Department for Transport

Road Traffic Offences: Cycling

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to reduce the number of pedal cyclists ignoring traffic lights and committing other road offences; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The enforcement of cycling offences is an operational matter for individual chief officers of police. Depending on the offence officers can issue verbal warnings, fixed penalty notices or report the road user for formal prosecution. We support any action taken by the police to deter and reduce the number of cycling offences.

Maritime and Coastguard Agency

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the minimum manning levels are for each Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre.

Mr John Hayes: The minimum risk assessed watch levels for each Maritime Rescue Coordination Centres (MRCCs) not currently within the new National Network are as follows: MRCCSummer#Winter#DayNightDayNightShetland3333Aberdeen5555Humber6565Thames4444London CG1111Dover6565Swansea5443Milford Haven4433Holyhead4433Liverpool4433Belfast* 5544Stornoway5544 # Summer is in line with British Summer Time and Winter is in line with Greenwich Mean Time.* Belfast MRCC Watch Risk Assessed levels increase by one Watchkeeper at weekends

Maritime and Coastguard Agency: Fareham

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the minimum manning levels are for the Maritime Operations Centre in Fareham.

Mr John Hayes: Since September 2014, minimum staffing has been set at a network level so that resources can be matched to demand. At this time, the National Maritime Operations Centre near Fareham and the Coastguard Operations Centre in Falmouth have been incorporated into the growing national network and are responsible for coordinating search and rescue from Dodman Point, South of Mevagissey, Cornwall to Beachy Head, East Sussex. The current minimum watch levels for today’s network are: · Weekday Day – 9 Watchkeepers· Weekend Day – 11 Watchkeepers· Weekday Night- 7 Watchkeepers· Weekend Night – 7 Watchkeepers Minimum staffing will change as the national network grows up to December 2015.

Flexible Working

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and what proportion of (a) women and (b) men have made a statutory application to request flexible working in his Department; and how many of those applications have been granted to date.

Claire Perry: The information requested is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Low Emission Zones

Robert Flello: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to bring scooters and motorcycles under present regulations on low emission zones.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Government believes that Low Emission Zones (LEZs) are one of a number of measures that can provide an opportunity to promote growth and reduce air pollution in urban areas. Defra provides guidance to local authorities on the design of LEZs such as which vehicles should be covered and what emissions standards they should meet. The Government believes that decisions on whether or not to introduce LEZs, and the vehicles they cover, should be a matter for local authorities.  The Mayor of London is proposing to create an ultra low emission zone (ULEZ) where almost all the vehicles running during working hours are either zero or low emission. A public consultation on the ULEZ is taking place between 27 October 2014 and 9 January 2015.

Shipping: Exhaust Emissions

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 27 October 2014 to Question 211928, what discussions his Department has had with its Scottish counterpart on the Rosyth-Zeebrugge freight service operated by DFDS and that company’s announcement on the viability of that route following the introduction of the sulphur dioxide emission regulations.

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 27 October 2014 to Question 211928, what recent progress has been made with the European Commission over the scope for State Aid in respect of ferry routes from the UK which are deemed to be vulnerable as a result of the new international and EU sulphur regime; and what his policy is on the linking of such provision to (a) employment and (b) training for UK-based seafarers.

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 27 October 2014 to Question 211928, which ferry routes from the UK are deemed to be vulnerable as a result of the introduction of new international and European Union sulphur regimes.

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 27 October 2014 to Question 211928, if he will make it his policy to make the provision of financial assistance from domestic public sources to shipping companies for compliance costs associated with the imminent sulphur dioxide emission regulations contingent upon guarantees of (a) employment and (b) training for UK-based seafarers.

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 27 October 2014 to Question 211928, which shipping companies have (a) applied for and (b) received funds from the Trans-European Network programme for meeting the costs of compliance with new regulations on sulphur dioxide emissions from shipping.

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 27 October 2014 to Question 211928, what funding has been secured to date from the Trans-European Network (TEN-T) programme to help shipping companies operating from UK ports to meet the cost of acquiring sulphur dioxide abatement technologies; and what proportion of such funding has been allocated to (a) each innovative technology and (b) infrastructure for liquefied natural gas bunkering to date.

Mr John Hayes: In July 2014, the Government’s support for shipowners and ports was successful in securing €29.5m of EU assistance under the TEN-T programme. All the projects received the full amount that they bid for. They are:· €10m - Pilot project to deploy hybrid scrubber technology. (P&O with ports of Dover / Calais / Hull / Rotterdam)· €2.5m – Deployment of hybrid scrubbers. (DFDS with ports of Immingham / Gothenburg)· €4.3m – Trial of Liquefied Natural Gas bunkering in Teesport. (Teesport and consortium)· €12.7m – Retrofitting a ship with LNG engines and developing port infrastructure. (Portsmouth with Brittany Ferries, port of Caen and Zeebrugge).Ultimately, operators will make commercial decisions. The Government is aware that there are ferry routes which industry considers are vulnerable, but this information is commercially sensitive. We are exploring with the European Commission whether a ferry route which is deemed to be vulnerable as a result of the new sulphur requirements could receive State Aid – and, if so, the parameters on which it could do so. Those discussions are ongoing.I have had two exchanges of letters with Keith Brown MSP, Minister for Transport and Veterans, concerning the future of the Rosyth – Zeebrugge freight service and the options that were being considered. We both recognised that issues around State Aid would significantly restrict domestic support and I confirmed that we had written to the Commission about the provision of State Aid. I assured Mr Brown that the UK would continue to support applications for EU funding to assist eligible projects that helped mitigate the impact of the Directive.The aim of providing assistance would be to help secure existing routes, which in turn, should help to secure employment. Any domestic funds that we provide to industry will need to provide value for money to the taxpayer and avoid distortions in a competitive market. However, there would be no direct link between these funds and the provision of employment and training for UK seafarers. This is already provided for separately, through the training requirements of the tonnage tax regime and through our Support for Maritime Training (SMarT) funding which we increased by 25% last year to £15m.

Roads: Freight

Robert Flello: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve daytime and overnight facilities for road freight drivers.

Claire Perry: It is Government policy that the provision of parking and other facilities for lorry drivers is a matter for the private sector and local authorities, who are best placed to judge local traffic conditions and needs. However, DfT Circular 02/2013, issued in September 2013, requires that all motorway and trunk road service areas and truck stops signed on or from the Strategic Road Network must offer free parking for two hours and free toilets with hand washing facilities to all motorists. Depending on the type of facility signed, some must offer shower and washing facilities to HGV drivers and hot food and drink to all motorists.

Maritime and Coastguard Agency

Mrs Louise Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether risk-assessed staffing levels have changed at any maritime rescue co-ordination centre in the last 12 months.

Mr John Hayes: The historic risk-assessed staffing levels have not changed at any Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre within the last 12 months. Levels are set separately for winter and summer months and therefore do vary during the year. Summer watch levels are in line with British Summer Time and winter in line with Greenwich Mean Time.

Maritime and Coastguard Agency

Mrs Louise Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Maritime and Coastguard Agency is taking to retain the specialist knowledge, skills and experience of staff in those maritime rescue co-ordination centres scheduled to close.

Mr John Hayes: The new coastguard structure keeps one Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in each of the current pairing arrangement as a Coastguard Operations Centre. This retains specialist knowledge, maintained through MRCC pairing since 2006, in the new structure. HM Coastguard are also proactively incorporating appropriate local information into its IT systems which will be available, in a standard format, to all watch-keepers across the whole UK network. The rigorous new training regime HM Coastguard are implementing ensures that both new and existing Coastguards are competent to conduct the new national concept of operations.

Rescue Services

Mrs Louise Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether those maritime rescue co-ordination centres that are scheduled to close will remain fully operational until their closure.

Mrs Louise Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans the Maritime and Coastguard Agency has to (a) relocate and (b) decommission equipment in those maritime rescue co-ordination centres scheduled to close.

Mr John Hayes: Maritime Rescue Coordination Centres (MRCC) that are scheduled to close will remain fully operational until their closure. There are currently no plans to change this. Where the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is undertaking the decommissioning of equipment at MRCCs it is carried out in accordance with its legal and contractual obligations as well as appropriate accounting and health and safety standards. Where appropriate we will re-utilise equipment at other MCA sites.

Shipping: Exhaust Emissions

Robert Flello: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assistance the Government is providing to port companies and shipping operatives in responding to the introduction of the EU low-sulphur fuel regulation.

Mr John Hayes: Pollutant emissions from ships are regulated by an international treaty in Annex VI to the MARPOL Convention. The sulphur provisions in MARPOL, which were adopted in 2008, are substantially mirrored in the EU Directive 2012/33/EU. This year, the Government was successful in supporting shipowners and ports who apply for EU assistance under the TEN-T programme to help purchase innovative technologies – including infrastructure for liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering. We are now considering other potential measures for providing EU and domestic financial support for industry. Moreover, we have secured a commitment to enable shipowners to discuss their plans for compliance with the European Commission, in confidence, to help resolve any outstanding difficulties. We are promoting the importance of a targeted, consistent and proportionate enforcement regime for marine sulphur across the EU. We have been instrumental in bringing forward the date for IMO’s fuel availability review, which should provide industry more time to prepare for the 0.5% global sulphur limit, which will apply outside European waters in 2020 or 2025.

Maritime and Coastguard Agency

Mr Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many coastguards have left the service since the Coastguard Reform programme began; and how many entrants to the Coastguard service there have been in that period.

Mr Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the employment grades are of (a) coastguards who have left the service since the Coastguard Reform programme began and (b) new entrants to the Coastguard service in that same period at the time of their first employment.

Mr John Hayes: The number and grade of Coastguards who have left the service since the Coastguard Reform Programme began in January 2012 is 234. This is shown below, by grade and reason for leaving, where numbers are five and greater. The number of new entrants to the Coastguard service in that same period is 156. This is shown below by grade.   Leavers GradeRetirementResignationVoluntary RedundancyOtherAdministrative Assistant626257Administrative Officer1158358Executive Officer14915#Higher Executive Officer#5##Senior Executive Officer####Grade 7##### Numbers less than five are subject to data protection. New Entrants GradeStartersAdministrative Assistant29Administrative Officer119*Executive Officer8Total156 * This figure includes 73 Maritime Operations Officers for the new national network who have been recruited since January 2014

Maritime and Coastguard Agency

Mr Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what levels of staffing the Maritime and Coastguard Agency had in place at the Maritime and Coastguard Agency Maritime Operations Centre at Fareham on 1 November 2014; and what levels of staffing the Agency expects to be in place at the Maritime and Coastguard Agency Maritime Operations Centre at Fareham in (i) January 2015 and (ii) March 2015.

Mr John Hayes: The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) had 66 Coastguards in place at the National Maritime Operations Centre (NMOC) in Fareham on 1 November 2014. The MCA anticipates that the following staffing levels will be in place in the future: i. January 2015 – 66 Coastguardsii. March 2015 – 75 Coastguards It should be noted that anticipated future staffing levels may vary depending on output from recruitment campaigns.

Maritime and Coastguard Agency

Mr Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of staff currently employed at the Maritime and Coastguard Agency Maritime Operations Centre at Fareham (a) received the amount of training and (b) attained the level of qualification required in order to carry out their duties when the centre takes on its full operational responsibilities in December 2015.

Mr John Hayes: The Maritime and Coastguard Agency anticipates that all the staff currently employed at the National Maritime Operations Centre (NMOC) will have received both the amount of training and attained the level of qualification required in order to carry out their duties when the NMOC takes on its full operational responsibilities in December 2015.

Maritime and Coastguard Agency

Mr Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many hours of shift time were staffed below risk-assessed level at (a) Humber, (b) Belfast, (c) Liverpool, (d) Swansea and (e) Dover maritime rescue coordination centres in October 2014.

Mr John Hayes: The number of hours the following Maritime Rescue Coordination Centres (MRCCs) were staffed at below risk assessed levels during October 2014 were as follows: MRCCNumber of hours of Shift Time*Humber660Belfast264Liverpool408Swansea468Dover540 * HM Coastguard undertake 2 shifts per day each last 12 hours. HM Coastguard closely monitors the staffing levels of all MRCCs. Where it encounters difficulty staffing to risk assessed levels, managers will, when appropriate, use tried and tested mitigation measures to maintain operations. These are:· the long standing pairing arrangements which enable each MRCC to be connected to at least one other which is available to provide mutual support;· increased overtime amongst MRCC staff; and if necessary· using Coastguards on detached duty.

Driving: Diabetes

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what guidance his Department provides to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency on driving and hypoglycaemia.

Claire Perry: The Secretary of State has appointed the Honorary Medical Advisory Panel on Driving and Diabetes Mellitus to provide expert advice on the medical standards in relation to driving with hypogycaemia.

Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he has taken to enable people to request that data referring to them held by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency is not shared with organisations outside government.

Claire Perry: The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) discloses personal data from its registers to authorised third parties with a legitimate reason for requesting it, only where it is fair and lawful to do so and in compliance with the Data Protection Act. Safeguards are in place to ensure that the data provided to third parties is requested for specific purposes and is used appropriately. All data-subjects have the right in law to request that the DVLA does not disclose personal data where this would cause unwarranted and substantial damage or distress. The DVLA does not operate a general opt-out from the release of information from its records.

Driving: Diabetes

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what guidance his Department provides to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency about oral medication for type 2 diabetes and the risk of hypoglycaemia.

Claire Perry: The Secretary of State has appointed the Honorary Medical Advisory Panel on Driving and Diabetes Mellitus to provide expert advice on the medical standards required for safe driving. This includes advice on the impact of any medication taken for diabetes and the risks of hypoglycaemia.

Electronic Government

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 7 November 2014 to Question 213231, what Digital by Default Service his Department has developed; and what Assisted Digital support is in place for each such service.

Claire Perry: The Department for Transport (DfT) provides 73 online transactions including 54 from DVLA, 2 from Highways Agency, 1 from Maritime Accident Investigation Branch and 16 from DVSA. DfT is transitioning these digital transactions to conform to the Digital by Default Service Standard.Of these, the one of its three exemplar Services 'View Driving Record' is already Live. The other two, Personalised Registrations and Vehicle Management are on track to be Live by April 2015.The Following are at Alpha:View Vehicle Record for FleetsDart ChargeShare Driving RecordPersonalised RegistrationsThe following are at Beta:Foreign Operator Payment SystemElectronic Vehicle LicensingCar Tax, Statutory Off Road NoticeAssisted Digital support is in place for each of the aforementioned services. In each case user testing and assessment of user need revealed that users preferred the continuance of a telephone support service for Assisted Digital.DfT is committed to continuing to provide multiple channels for accessing its services whilst recognising the savings to the taxpayer that can be realised by encouraging a channel shift to digital wherever and whenever possible by making its digital services as easy to use as possible in conformance with the Digital by Default Standard.

Home Office

Vetting

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of Disclosure and Barring Service applications are referred to police forces for verification.

Karen Bradley: Applications for an enhanced criminal record certificate are referred to police forces under certain circumstances, including where there is a match against the Police National Computer (PNC) or a match against a national database of local police intelligence, known as PLX (Police Local Crosschecking). Between 1 April 2014 and 30 September 2014, 34.9% of applications for a DBS enhanced check were referred to local police forces as part of the Disclosure process.

Immigration Controls

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent estimate she has made of the (a) total expenditure and (b) expenditure on operations by Border Force in 2014-15, including any allocation for the e-Borders arbitration costs.

James Brokenshire: Holding answer received on 27 October 2014



The most recent estimate of the (a) total expenditure and (b) expenditure on operations by Border Force in 2014-15, including any allocation for the e-Borders arbitration costs is:(a) Total Expenditure £459 million(b) Operational Expenditure £399 millionThe Border Force operational costs do not include an allocation of e-Borders arbitration costs.Please note these figures are part of the current year’s expenditure and so will be subject to audit .

Stalking

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many complaints of stalking were recorded by the police in England and Wales in each of the last three years.

Lynne Featherstone: The Home Office collects data on the number of crimes recorded by the police but not how many complaints the police receive. Prior to 1 April 2014, offences relating to stalking recorded by the police were included in the offence classification of harassment and could not be identified separately. From the 1 April 2014 these offences have been supplied to the Home Office as a separate classification of stalking. Therefore data are only available for the months April to June 2014, when the police recorded 695 offences. They are published in the quarterly Office for National Statistics publication of ‘Crime in England and Wales’. The most recent data are available in table A4 in this link: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/crime-stats/crime-statistics/period-ending-june-2014/index.html

Illegal Immigrants

Dr William McCrea: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent representations she has received about the number of illegal immigrants entering the UK.

James Brokenshire: The Home Office regularly receives written questions and correspondence from Honourable Members and their constituents about this issue. Since 2010, we have clamped down on illegal immigration.The Immigration Act 2014 is a landmark piece of legislation which builds on the Government’s ongoing reforms to our immigration system to ensure it works in our national interest.The Act will have a major impact on the Home Office’s work to secure our borders, enforce our immigration laws and continue to attract the brightest and the best to the UK.The Act puts the law firmly on the side of those who respect it, not those who break it. Key measures from the Act which are now in force including the introduction of enhanced duties for registrars to report suspected sham marriages and civil partnerships; new powers to streamline the recovery of illegal working penalties; the ability to remove harmfulindividuals before their appeals are heard if there is no risk of serious irreversible harm.The Act also Strengthens requirements for the courts to have regard to Parliament’s view of the public interest in immigration cases raising Article 8-making clear the right to a family life is not to be regarded as absolute and unqualified.New powers to revoke the driving licences of known illegal immigrants are also included in the Act.

Travel Restrictions

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many individuals on the UK sanctions list are not on the UK travel ban list.

James Brokenshire: Holding answer received on 20 November 2014



It is long-standing policy not to discuss specific information held on UN or EU Travel Ban Lists implemented by the UK that is not in the public domain as to do so would not be in the interests of border and national security.

Travel Restrictions

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether any person on the UK sanctions list has travelled to the UK in the last 12 months.

James Brokenshire: Holding answer received on 20 November 2014



It is long-standing policy not to discuss specific information held on UN or EU Travel Ban Lists implemented by the UK that is not in the public domain as to do so would not be in the interests of border and national security.

Entry Clearances: Malawi

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the system for online applications for UK visas from Malawi will become fully operational.

James Brokenshire: UK Visas and Immigration has moved to an application and payment process in which almost all customers apply and pay for their visas online. This system is already fully operational in Malawi. The move to online applications and payments has delivered a streamlined process that is consistent with a wider global trend for online transactions and payments. Customers who do not have a credit or debit card can seek a sponsor to pay online. Prepaid credit or debit cards from the major suppliers can be provided by Malawian banks and used with this system.

Sprakab

Mr David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what changes her Department has made to its contract with Sprakab in 2014-15 to date; and what the reasons were for those changes.

James Brokenshire: There have been no changes made to the current contract with Sprakab, which was awarded in August, following an open procurement competition. As part of this process, a contract was also awarded to a new firm, Verified, as the lead supplier, which was on the basis of securing the best value contracts for the taxpayer.

Police: Greater London

Mr Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Metropolitan Police officers there were serving in Greater London in Safer Neighbourhood Teams in March of each year from 2005 to 2014.

Mr Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police positions in Greater London were vacant in March of each year from 2005 to 2014.

Mr Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Metropolitan Police officers there were serving in Lambeth in Safer Neighbourhood Teams in March of each year from 2005 to 2014.

Mr Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police positions in Lambeth were vacant in March of each year from 2005 to 2014.

Mike Penning: The table provided contains statistics on the number and proportion of Metropolitan Police officers in the foot/car/beat/patrol function as at 31 March 2005 to 2008, and the number and proportion of Metropolitan Police officers in the neighbourhoods and response functions as at 31 March 2009 to 2014.The Home Office does not collect these statistics for Lambeth or any other Basic Command Unit.The Home Office also does not collect statistics on police vacancies.   



Metropolitan police officer functions
(Excel SpreadSheet, 12.33 KB)

Proceeds of Crime

Mr Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many civil recoveries were aided by the National Crime Agency in each region of the UK in the last 14 months.

Mike Penning: Since inception the National Crime Agency has led on 88 Civil Recovery cases. The NCA also assists cases led by other agencies and police forces, although this data is not held centrally. • 69 cases related to individuals with assets primarily based in England and Wales (15 of these cases were adopted for investigation since 7 October 2013 when NCA cases began); and• 19 cases related to individuals with assets primarily based in Northern Ireland (2 of these cases were adopted since 7 October 2013 when NCA cases began) The National Crime Agency (Limitation of extension to Northern Ireland) Order 2013 provides that the NCA can initiate civil recovery investigations in Northern Ireland which are predicated on excepted and reserved offences (i.e. non transferred offences). Officers based in Northern Ireland also undertake work on England and Wales-based cases.Civil recovery in Scotland is dealt with by the Civil Recovery Unit.

Police ICT Company

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what (a) the budget and (b) staffing is for the Police ICT Company in (i) 2014-15 and (ii) 2015-16.

Mike Penning: Holding answer received on 26 November 2014



The Police ICT Company currently does not have any assigned budget or staff. As the Company will be owned and led by Police and Crime Commissioners, it is now for them to take immediate decisions on the specific functions of the Company. To help PCCs consider options and take these decisions, the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime, on behalf of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, received a grant of up to £291,500 from the 2014/15 Police Innovation Fund.The budget for 2015/16 is yet to be agreed, and will depend on PCCs decisions.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Bahrain

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations his Department has made to the government of Bahrain on political rights in that country.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office actively encourages broad engagement and participation of all political societies and the people of Bahrain in the electoral process, in the spirit of shared responsibility and national reconciliation.On 24 September, EU Member States’ Ambassadors’ present in Bahrain (UK, Italy, France and Germany) welcomed the announcement by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa to hold legislative elections in Bahrain. The first round of parliamentary elections, which took place on 22 November, went smoothly despite some violence and IED attacks. The second round of voting will take place on the 29 November.

United Arab Emirates

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had about democratic reform in the United Arab Emirates.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: I have regular discussions on a wide range of issues of bilateral interest with my counterpart, Dr Anwar Gargash. Any reform will continue to be led by the region, not external actors.

Syria

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the likelihood of Aleppo falling to pro-government forces in Syria.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The city of Aleppo is under pressure from President Assad’s forces. Assad’s regime is currently seeking to encircle Aleppo, and applying pressure to the 300,000 civilians and the moderate opposition in the area, whilst also bombarding the area with barrel bombs and artillery. The moderate opposition – many of them Aleppo civilians themselves – are in Aleppo supporting and protecting its inhabitants. At present, the moderate groups in Aleppo are holding off the assault from the regime. But the conditions are difficult, and they will need our continuing support.

Syria

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the sustainability of anti-government forces in Syria.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The moderate opposition groups in Syria are under pressure. The Government remains longstanding and strong supporters of these groups. We are providing non-lethal support, as well as strong political backing for the National Coalition – most recently when President Hadi al-Bahra visited London from 10th-12th November. We also plan to make a significant contribution to the US Department of Defence training programme for the Syrian groups. Taken together, our contribution is helping the moderate groups in their fight against ISIL and against President Assad’s regime forces, in very challenging conditions.

Flexible Working

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many and what proportion of (a) women and (b) men have made a statutory application to request flexible working in his Department; and how many of those applications have been granted to date.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) supports flexible working for all its employees and all FCO staff can ask to work flexibly on an ad hoc basis or submit a formal application for a regular change to their working pattern subject to business needs. Staff are able to appeal if a formal request to work flexibly is refused. The FCO does not centrally record requests for flexible working and therefore does not hold data on number of applications made.Line managers are responsible for recording and monitoring working patterns for their teams. In 2013 we also introduced a new form into our Management Information system in which we encourage staff to voluntarily record details so that we can provide more accurate management information on flexible working patterns. Based on information recorded on our HR database on 31 October 2014, including the voluntary declarations that have been made, the gender breakdown of the different types of current flexible working are as follows:Flexible Working Type Female Male TotalCompressed Hours 20 9 29Flexi-time 22 19 41Job share 17 1 18Part time/reduced hours 154 15 169Remote Working 87 63 150Total 300 107 407Total as a % of Workforce 15% 4% 9%(These figures include all FCO civil servants based in the UK and overseas, They do not include staff from FCO Services, (an Executive Agency and Trading Fund of the FCO) or locally engaged staff employed overseas).

United Arab Emirates

Mr Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to inform and advise British citizens who live and work in the United Arab Emirates about failures by the relevant authorities in that country to respond adequately to reports of domestic violence.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: Our travel advice for all countries, including the United Arab Emirates, can be found on the gov.uk websites and is under constant review. We provide consular assistance when required, including in cases of domestic violence.

Middle East

Mr Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to safeguard fundamental freedoms of speech, expression and association in (a) Bahrain and (b) the Middle East.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: Fundamental freedoms of expression and association are crucial for the long-term stability of the Middle East and North Africa. We continue to encourage the Government of Bahrain to meet all of its human rights obligations in this regard. Across the wider Middle East, we have 50 different projects ongoing that work to safeguard such freedoms, by supporting free and fair elections, and the development of stronger civil society, parliaments, media and judiciaries.

Egypt

Mr Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the government of Egypt about freedom of the press in that country.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Foreign Secretary and I raised the prosecution of journalists and the need to protect the freedom of the press with the Egyptian Foreign Minister during his visit to London on 27 October. The UK raised concerns about Egyptian restrictions on freedom of expression during the United Nations Universal Periodic Review of Egypt’s human rights performance on 5 November. In Cairo, Her Majesty's Ambassador to Egypt raised freedom of expression with the Egyptian Prosecutor General on 20 November. We will continue to urge the Government of Egypt to demonstrate its commitment to freedom of expression, including the right of journalists to operate without fear of prosecution. The UK has clearly stated that freedom of the press is fundamental to building a democratic society.

Burkina Faso

Mr Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent reports he has received of the situation in Burkina Faso; and what steps he is taking to support a political transition in that country that is based on democratic principles and the rule of law.

James Duddridge: We have monitored recent events in Burkina Faso closely through our staff based there and in the region, and through our contacts with the African Union and ECOWAS. We welcome the recent agreement by the people of Burkina Faso on a Charter for the Transition to democracy, and the appointment of a civilian as interim President. These are important and encouraging first steps in the journey back to full democracy, which must be completed through free and fair elections scheduled for November 2015.

Iran

Naomi Long: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Iranian counterpart on the case of Ghoncheh Ghavami.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Government has raised the case of Ghonceh Ghavami with the Iranian authorities on many occasions, including most recently on 23 November. Both the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary have raised this with President Rouhani and Foreign Minister Zarif. We welcome news that Ms Ghavami has been released on bail. I met with the family on 25 November to discuss ways we can work together to ensure the best possible outcome of this case.

Nigeria

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of international support for the Nigerian authorities in tackling Boko Haram.

James Duddridge: Nigeria faces a serious threat from Boko Haram. More than 3,000 people have been killed by the group this year and over 1.5 million have been displaced.Addressing the threat from Boko Haram is primarily the responsibility of the Nigerian authorities. However, the UK, along with other international partners is providing support to Nigeria and its neighbours in their efforts to defeat Boko Haram. This support includes a range of intelligence, military and development assistance both to support current operations and to help tackle the long term causes of instability. I led the UK delegation to the last meeting of regional foreign ministers on 3 September in Abuja. I stressed the importance of regional and international cooperation.As with all countries, we regularly review the assistance we provide to ensure that it is having maximum effect on the ground.

Northern Ireland Office

Flexible Working

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many and what proportion of (a) women and (b) men have made a statutory application to request flexible working in her Department; and how many of those applications have been granted to date.

Mrs Theresa Villiers: My Department has not received any statutory applications to request flexible working. We do however have a number of staff who have flexible working arrangements, the details of which are as follows: Type of flexible arrangementMaleFemaleCompressed Hours11Reduced Hours115

Attorney General

Prosecutions

Andrew Bridgen: To ask the Attorney General, what bodies can prosecute without the approval of the Crown Prosecution Service.

Mr Robert Buckland: Any private individual or entity who/which is not acting on behalf of the police or another prosecuting authority may bring a private prosecution. There are some organisations that regularly prosecute cases as a private prosecutor before the courts of England and Wales, for example the RSPCA. Furthermore, there are other prosecution authorities that bring prosecutions pursuant to statute, including the Serious Fraud Office and the Service Prosecuting Authority. Some offences can only be brought if the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions or the Attorney General is obtained.

Flexible Working

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Attorney General, how many and what proportion of (a) women and (b) men have made a statutory application to request flexible working in the Law Officers' Departments; and how many of those applications have been granted to date.

Mr Robert Buckland: Permanent staff in the Law Officers’ Departments have been entitled to apply for flexible working for a number of years. However, complete records of the number of employees who may have applied for flexible working are not maintained. The information that is available is detailed below.   The Treasury Solicitor’s Department (TSol) only keeps records of flexible working patterns that impact directly on pay and annual leave, and no separate record is held of applications made under a statutory right. The current position, as at 31/10/2014, in respect of compressed hours and part-time working is detailed in the table below.   TSolPatternMaleFemaleCompressed Hours32 (4.8%*)56 (5.4%**)Part Time49 (7.4%*)354 (34.0%**) *percentage of total male / **percentage of total female Note: TSol data also includes the Attorney General’s Office and Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate.   The following table contains details on the applications made to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for flexible working between 23/06/2008 and 06/10/2014.   CPSApplication for Flexible Working Granted YES/NOGenderGrand TotalFemaleMaleYes26824292No34640Grand Total30230332 Note: The source data has been extracted from the CPS Pay and Benefits working database on 20/11/2014. The CPS does not capture data for statutory applications separately or any applications that may have been refused and not forwarded to the CPS National Pay and Benefits Team.   The Serious Fraud Office does not retain any central record of applications to work flexibly. However, currently 19.6% of men and 26% of women have some form of flexible working arrangement.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

EU External Trade

Jim Sheridan: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will urge the European Commission to make public the negotiating mandate for the Trade in Services Agreement.

Matthew Hancock: The Government supports the new Trade Commissioner’s desire to bring greater transparency to trade negotiations. Official EU documents pertaining to trade negotiations should, in the Government’s view, as a matter of principle be published when to do so would not impact negatively on the EU’s ability to secure the best possible deal for Europe.We have welcomed moves by the European Commission proactively to publish information on the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA). For the first time the Commission has published the full text of the EU initial offer and the proposal papers put forward by the EU during the negotiations. You may find the FAQs on this site a useful initial source of information. The website address is as follows; http://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/in-focus/tisa.It is the Government’s view that publication of the TiSA mandate at this stage could hinder these important negotiations but we will keep this under review.

Business: Africa

Mr Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what guidance his Department gives to companies about doing business in (a) Morocco and (b) Western Sahara.

Matthew Hancock: Holding answer received on 20 November 2014



UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) helps UK companies do business with Morocco through a range of exporting services, advice and practical support. UKTI informs companies of the UK’s position in relation to Western Sahara and UK businesses and human rights.

Business: Stafford

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many businesses in Stafford constituency have received export support from UK Trade & Investment in each of the last four years.

Matthew Hancock: UK Trade and Investment supported 47,960 companies in 2013/14 financial year; 31,880 in 2012/13; 26,640 in 2011/12 and 24,550 in 2010/11. However, breakdowns of the data at the constituency level are not available.

Textiles: Lancashire

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many businesses the Textiles Growth Programme has supported in (a) Lancashire and (b) Pendle in each of the last three years.

Greg Clark: To date, the Textile Growth Programme, (England wide) has engaged with 68 companies in Lancashire, 8 of which are based in Pendle. 14 companies in Lancashire have benefited from grants through this programme to the value of about £945,000, with a target to create or safeguard about 335 jobs. Two of these companies are in Pendle and have benefited from over £200,000 with a target to create 104 jobs. Also, in Lancashire, there are five additional business applications currently in appraisal / project board review phase.

EU External Trade: USA

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what representations he has received from the Welsh Government on negotiations on the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

Matthew Hancock: Ministers in the Welsh Governments, through regular Joint Ministerial Committee meetings, have an opportunity to input into the UK position where appropriate and Ministers have been kept abreast of developments. Officials from the Devolved Administrations are also invited to frequent cross-Whitehall meetings on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, and are in regular contact with trade policy officials in Whitehall.

Post Office Card Account

Teresa Pearce: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions he has had with the Department for Work and Pensions about the future of the Post Office card account after the current contract ends in March 2015; and when he expects a decision on this matter to be announced.

Jo Swinson: I regularly discuss matters relating to Post Office Ltd with colleagues, including those from the Department for Work and Pensions.   The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is not involved in commercial negotiations between other Departments and Post Office Ltd. Post Office Ltd and the Department for Work and Pensions are currently discussing the future of the Post Office card account and an announcement will be made when these discussions are concluded.

EU External Trade: USA

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will confirm whether his Department has conducted a sectoral impact assessment of the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership on UK business.

Matthew Hancock: The Centre for Economic Policy Research’s assessment of the potential impact of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership on the UK includes projections of the impact for 20 sectors. For details, please see the report which can be found at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/trade-and-investment-agreement-between-eu-and-usa-estimated-impact-on-uk

Post Office Card Account

Jason McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the future of the Post Office card account after March 2015.

Jo Swinson: The Post Office card account is a matter for the Department for Work and Pensions. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills does not have a role in commercial negotiations between other Departments and Post Office Ltd. Post Office Ltd and the Department for Work and Pensions are currently discussing the future of the Post Office card account and an announcement will be made when these discussions are concluded.

Scottish Power

Steve Rotheram: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how he plans to keep the people who lost money following the failure of firms involved in Scottish Power's cashback warranty scheme updated on progress on the review of whether there will be further investigations of that matter.

Jo Swinson: The outcome and recommendations of the review have just been passed to me and I will need to consider them. Any enquiry into this matter may be by way of a publicly announced inspection or a confidential investigation. If a public inspection is to be carried out this will be announced in due course.

Research Councils: Grants

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 4 November 2014 to Question 212005, what assessment he has made of the effect of the length of time for which grants are awarded on the diversity of their recipients.

Greg Clark: This information is not held centrally.

Department for International Development

West Africa: Ebola

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what estimate she has made of how much her Department has spent on specific steps to tackle the Ebola outbreak in West Africa to date.

Justine Greening: Tackling the Ebola outbreak in West Africa is a top priority for my department. The UK is leading the international response in Sierra Leone and to date has committed £230 million to fight the disease.

Flexible Working

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many and what proportion of (a) women and (b) men have made a statutory application to request flexible working in her Department; and how many of those applications have been granted to date.

Mr Desmond Swayne: DFID supports flexible working. Any request to work flexibly is made directly to an individual’s line manager and agreed at that level. A statutory application which would be reviewed by HR would only be submitted if agreement or compromise between the individual and line manager could not be made. We have no record of receiving any such an application at the centre for the last 2 years.

Developing Countries: Energy

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what proportion of the Public Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility budget has been spent on (a) private and (b) public schemes for energy infrastructure in each of the last eight years.

Justine Greening: PPIAF does not finance the provision of infrastructure through either public or private schemes. Its role is to assist governments in developing countries to improve the enabling environment for the provision of basic infrastructure services by the private sector.

Department for Education

Bullying

Mr Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department has issued to (a) primary schools, (b) secondary schools, (c) sixth form colleges and (d) pupil referral units on dealing with (i) racist bullying, (ii) homophobic bullying, (iii) gender-based bullying and (iv) sexual exploitation.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The Government has sent a clear message to schools that all forms of bullying, for whatever reason, are absolutely unacceptable and should not tolerated. All schools are required, by law, to have a behaviour policy with measures to address all forms of bullying. Schools are free to develop their own anti-bullying strategies but they are held clearly to account for their effectiveness through Ofsted.   We have issued specific advice[1] to schools on preventing and tackling bullying in which we link to national organisations such as the Anti-Bullying Alliance, who can provide specialist advice to schools to tackle specific types of bullying, such as racist, homophobic and gender based bullying. We issued a leaflet about bullying which outlined schools’ responsibilities to make appropriate provision for a bullied child’s social, emotional and mental health needs, and issued case studies on how good schools manage bullying[2]. We also published two pieces of advice, one on helping teachers[3] to guard themselves against cyberbullying and the second for parents[4] to help keep their children safe from cyberbullying. Teachers, as well as pupils, deserve to feel safe and free from bullying.   We have issued statutory guidance for teachers, Working Together to Safeguard Children (2013)[5] and Keeping Children Safe in Education (2014)[6], which sets out what schools must do to safeguard and promote the welfare of their pupils, including in relation to sexual exploitation.   We are also ensuring that children are better educated about the dangers of the internet, including bullying. From this term children are now learning about internet safety as part of the new national curriculum, and Safer Internet Day is widely promoted each year.  [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/preventing-and-tackling-bullying[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/managing-behaviour-and-bullying-in-schools-case-studies[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/374850/Cyberbullying_Advice_for_Headteachers_and_School_Staff_121114.pdf[4] https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/375420/Advice_for_Parents_on_Cyberbullying_131114.pdf[5] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-safeguard-children[6] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education

Pupil Referral Units

Mr Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people under the age of 18 in (a) the UK, (b) England and Wales, (c) London, (d) each London borough and (e) Streatham constituency have been enrolled at Pupil Referral Units in the latest period for which figures are available; and what proportion of such children have achieved five or more GCSEs.

Mr Sam Gyimah: Information on the number of pupils enrolled in pupil referral units in January 2014 in England and each local authority is published in the schools, pupils and their characteristics statistical first release[1]. Information on the number of pupils in pupil referral units at the end of key stage 4 achieving five or more GCSEs including equivalents is published in the 2012/13 GCSE statistical first release[2]. The Department for Education produces statistics on England only. The responsibility for education statistics in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales lies with each devolved administration.  [1] www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2014 (National, Local Authority and Regional figures: Table 7b)[2] www.gov.uk/government/publications/gcse-and-equivalent-results-in-england-2012-to-2013-revised (National figures: Table 3a; Local Authority and regional figures: Table P1)

Home Education

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what statistics her Department collects on homeschooled children.

Mr Sam Gyimah: I refer to the answer given to the hon. Member for Huddersfield on 21 November 2014 (PQ 214707). There has never been any requirement on parents to register with their local authority if they wish to home educate their child, so there is no basis on which information could be collected in a reliable fashion.

Religion: GCSE

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 21 November 2014 to Question 214915, who the representatives from religious and non-religious communities were that she consulted about proposed content for the new religious studies GCSE.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The Secretary of State spoke to senior representatives from the Catholic Church, Church of England, United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board, Network of Sikh Organisations, Network of Buddhist Organisations and Hindu Council UK. She also spoke with representatives from the Religious Education Council for England and Wales and British Humanist Association.

Ministry of Justice

Court Orders: Compensation

Mr David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many deduction of earning orders for payment of compensation orders have been placed on offenders' benefit payments in each year since 2010.

Mike Penning: This Government takes recovery and enforcement of financial impositions very seriously and remains committed to finding new ways to ensure impositions are paid and to trace those who do not pay. This is why there has been a year on year increase in the total amount of financial impositions collected over the last three years. It is not possible to identify how many deductions from benefits orders or attachment of earnings orders have been used for the recovery of compensation without incurring disproportionate cost as this information can only be obtained by a manual search of all live and closed financial imposition accounts.

Motor Vehicles: Licensing

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on how many occasions sellers of motor vehicles have been convicted of failing to use form V5C/3 to notify the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency of the transfer of a vehicle to a new owner in each of the last five years.

Mike Penning: The Ministry of Justice Court Proceedings Database holds information on defendants proceeded against, found guilty and sentenced for criminal offences in England and Wales. However, not all offences are individually reported within the centrally held data. Data for offences of failing to use form V5C/3 to notify the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency of the transfer of a vehicle to a new owner are held as part of a related group of vehicle licensing offences, and it is not possible to separately identify prosecutions for this specific offence from other offences within this grouping. This information may be held by the individual courts in England and Wales and as such it can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Court Orders: Compensation

Mr David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much has been (a) paid to victims and (b) remains outstanding for compensation orders agreed by the courts in each year since 2010.

Mike Penning: This Government takes recovery and enforcement of financial impositions very seriously and remains committed to finding new ways to ensure impositions are paid and to trace those who do not pay. This is why there has been a year on year increase in the total amount of financial impositions collected over the last three years. The table below shows the total amount of compensation collected in each year and the amount outstanding at the end of the year. YearTotal compensation collected regardless of imposition dateCompensation outstanding at end of the year regardless of imposition date2009/10£28.8m£69.2m2010/11£29.6m£68.9m2011/12£28.2m£68.1m2012/13£33.3m£67.2m2013/14£28.3m£67.7m The balance outstanding includes accounts that were not due to be paid by the end of the period specified and those that were being paid by instalments on agreed payment plans.HM Courts & Tribunals Service are looking to work with an external provider for future provision of the compliance and enforcement service. Working with an external provider would bring the necessary investment and technology HMCTS needs to achieve its aspirations for compliance and enforcement services in the future. It will enable the automation of many of the manual administrative processes and in turn decrease the cost of providing fine enforcement and increase the amount of fines that are paid. The innovation this will bring and the use of automated administrative processes will free up staff time to be more pro-active in pursuing offenders to ensure they comply with their court order.

Belmarsh Prison

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the (a) age and (b) offence type was of prisoners held in HM Prison Belmarsh who were under the age of 21 on 31 December 2013.

Andrew Selous: Please see the table below: HMP Belmarsh population by age and by offence group for prisoners under the age of 21, as at 31 December 2013, England and Wales   Age 31-Dec-1318Violence against the person9Sexual offences*Robbery*Burglary*Theft and handling*Fraud and forgery*Drug offences*Motoring offences*Other offences*Offence not recorded*19Violence against the person9Sexual offences*Robbery*Burglary*Theft and handling*Fraud and forgery*Drug offences*Motoring offences*Other offences*Offence not recorded*20Violence against the person12Sexual offences*Robbery*Burglary*Theft and handling*Fraud and forgery*Drug offences*Motoring offences*Other offences*Offence not recorded*All 60 * Numbers of 5 or less cannot be produced to prevent disclosure of individuals.The figures in these tables have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Prisoners: Foreign Nationals

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of prisoners who were not born in the UK in each of the last three years.

Andrew Selous: Information is not held centrally on the country of birth of prisoners. For the nationality split of prisoners please refer to the Offender Management Statistics series. In particular: Table 1.6 for the most up to date quarterly statistics up to 30 September 2014:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/368442/prison-population-q3-2014.xls Table 1.9 for the long run time series as at 30 June for 2002-2014:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/339036/prison-population-2014.xls

Prisoners: Sexual Offences

Mr Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department has taken to tackle sexual exploitation and sexual offences in (a) adult prisons and (b) youth offender institutions; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Selous: The Government does not tolerate sexual exploitation of any kind in adult prisons or young offender institutions. Sexual assaults are treated seriously and referred to the police for investigation. Where there is insufficient evidence for a criminal prosecution, the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) uses internal disciplinary processes to deal robustly with perpetrators. NOMS has recently undertaken analysis on the safeguards that are in place to prevent sexual violence in prisons and young offender institutions. The analysis did not identify any significant gaps but made some recommendations to further improve practice. NOMS is comprehensively reviewing how it manages all forms of violence, including sexual violence, and will issue revised guidance on this, as well as a new policy on adult safeguarding, in early 2015. Work is also being taken forward with the police and Crown Prosecution Service to improve the investigation and prosecution of crime in prisons and young offender institutions. Data on assaults, including sexual assaults, in prisons and young offender institutions is included in the Safety in Custody Statistics Bulletin, available at www.gov.uk/government/publications/safety-in-custody-statistics.

Prisons: Internet

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners have been reprimanded for accessing the internet without permission in each year since 2011.

Andrew Selous: NOMS policy is that prisoners are only permitted very restricted access to the Internet for resettlement purposes and in a closely controlled and managed environment. If found accessing the Internet without the permission of staff, prisoners are dealt with robustly and can be referred to the police or charged with an offence against the Prison Rules. NOMS does not centrally record the number of prisoners who have accessed the Internet without permission. To identify them would require the examination and collation of personal records from each prison and could only be done at disproportionate cost.

Prisoners: Marriage

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what has been the cost to the public purse of weddings within UK prisons in each year since January 2011.

Andrew Selous: All additional costs associated with marriage and civil partnership ceremonies held in prisons in England and Wales are met by the prisoner and not from the public purse.

Flexible Working

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of (a) women and (b) men have made a statutory application to request flexible working in his Department; and how many of those applications have been granted to date.

Mr Shailesh Vara: We are unable to provide information on the overall number of statutory applications that have been made to request flexible working, as the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) only records requests which have been approved. The table below sets out the number of approved requests as at the end of March 2013 and 2014. The figures for 2013 do not include the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) as they joined the MoJ in April 2013.YearNumber of male staffNumber of female staff20132,3528,19920142,8979,216The MoJ’s Flexible Working policy goes beyond the statutory duty as employees are able to make a request for flexible working regardless of their length of service. The policy sets out the business reasons that can be given for refusing an application, and the process for informing the requester of the decision. The policy allows for a range of working patterns including job share, reduced or compressed hours, part year working and partial retirement.There is a separate policy for staff working within the executive agency; National Offender Management Service (NOMS). The NOMS policy allows for temporary, short term agreements to change an employee’s pattern or hours of working, to help staff balance their work and home life effectively. The NOMS policy also allows permanent changes to their pattern or hours of working, which represents a change to general terms and conditions of employment.

Scotland Office

Electronic Government

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what steps his Department is taking to ensure its services are available online; and if he will make a statement.

David Mundell: The Scotland Office publishes online a wide range of information and analysis about its functions and the position of Scotland within the United Kingdom. The Office does not provide transactional services to the public.

Unemployment

Mary Macleod: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what estimate he has made of likely changes in the number of workless households in Scotland in the next five years.

David Mundell: Thanks to the policies of this Government, the number of workless households in Scotland has fallen by 38,000 in the last year.The best way to ensure this downward trend for the next 5 years is to adhere to the government’s long term economic plan.

Health Services

Sir Alan Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, if he will take steps to encourage cross-border co-operation in health services.

David Mundell: A clear advantage of being part of the Union is that the NHS in each part of the UK can work together to benefit patients. We are committed to working with the Scottish Government to making cross-border health services operate efficiently. The Minister for Public Health and I are happy to meet the Rt Hon Gentleman and other Borders MPs to discuss this matter further.

Ferries: Scottish Islands

Mr Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what recent discussions he has had with the Scottish Government on the effect on island communities of Road Equivalent Tariffs on ferry services.

Mr Alistair Carmichael: As an Islands MP I keep a very close eye on the effects of Scottish Government policies on our Island communities.Whilst the RET on ferry services can mean cheaper fares for some, there are unintended consequences, for example on infrastructure and the environment for the islands affected.

Road Traffic Control

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, if he will bring forward proposals for secondary legislation to devolve further powers on road traffic matters to the Scottish Government.

David Mundell: Although the Government’s attention is focused on the work of the Smith Commission at the moment, in respect of further devolution, and it would be inappropriate to pre-judge the outcome of that process, I can assure the hon. Gentleman that I am happy to work with him in seeking an agreed approach to address this particular issue.

Ministry of Defence

Members: Correspondence

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when his Department expects to reply to the letter dated 1 April 2014 from the hon. Member for York Outer to the Minister of State for Defence Personnel, Welfare and Veterans concerning the Justice for Forces Widows Campaign.

Anna Soubry: Holding answer received on 15 October 2014



I responded to the hon. Member on 12 November 2014.

Army: Ayrshire

Mr Brian H. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the annual recruitment figure to the Army from Central Ayrshire was in each of the last five years.

Mr Julian Brazier: Holding answer received on 24 November 2014



Recruiting information is not held specifically for central Ayrshire. Annual recruitment to the Army from Scotland over the last five years is as follows: Scotland2010-112011-122012-132013-142014-15(to 31 October )Regular8201,050840540380Reserve330330330140130 Figures have been rounded to 10. Numbers ending in 5 are rounded tothe nearest multiple of 20 to avoid systematic bias.

AWE Aldermaston

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page Ev 94 of Attachment 1 to the written evidence submitted by the British Pugwash Group, in the Sixth Report of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Session 2009-10, Global Security: UK-US relations, HC 114, on what occasions and for what purposes US nuclear weapons laboratories have used experimental facilities at the UK Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston to conduct tests that were prohibited in the US.

Mr Philip Dunne: None. Under the 1958 Mutual Defence Agreement, joint UK/US experiments have been carried out using facilities at the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston to ensure the continued safety, security, and performance of UK and US nuclear warhead stockpiles; these experiments would not have been prohibited in the US.

Armed Forces: Health

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what use his Department has made of the National Wellbeing Index introduced by the Office for National Statistics since its introduction in 2011; and what the principal policies are that his Department has introduced to improve the wellbeing of Britain's armed forces and veterans since 2010.

Anna Soubry: The Office for National Statistics well-being questions were added to the Civil Service ‘Your Say’ Survey, which is sent to civil servants and some Service personnel, and the ‘Armed Forces Continuous Attitudes Survey’ (the main source of data on Service personnel’s attitudes and experiences) in 2012. The resulting data is analysed to understand how respondents’ experiences vary between different groups and what shapes these experiences. This evidence, and data such as the New Employment Model and the Armed Forces Covenant plays an important part in developing policies to assess Service personnel wellbeing and in tracking progress. A Defence People Health and Wellbeing Strategy is being developed for 2015-16, as part of the Defence People Health and Wellbeing Plan. The vast majority of service leavers are fit and well. Veterans with health concerns enjoy the same excellent standard of healthcare from the NHS as other UK citizens, and receive priority treatment, subject to clinical need of others, for conditions resulting from service.

Armed Forces: Young People

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 28 October 2014 to Question 211635, what progress he has made on reviewing the cost-benefit analysis of the recruitment and training of minors; and when he plans to publish that report.

Anna Soubry: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

West Africa: Ebola

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of how much his Department has spent on specific steps to tackle the Ebola outbreak in West Africa to date.

Mr Mark Francois: The cost of the operation has not yet been calculated in detail. However, under an existing arrangement with Department for International Development (DFID) governing military support to humanitarian assistance operations, the majority of costs incurred by the Ministry of Defence will be met by DFID.

DMRC Headley Court

Caroline Dinenage: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much of the net additional cost of military operations was allocated to Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre Headley Court in financial year 2012-13.

Caroline Dinenage: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much of the net additional cost of military operations allocated to Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre Headley Court was spent on commissioned treatments and services from private sector healthcare providers in financial year 2012-13.

Caroline Dinenage: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much of the net additional cost of military operations allocated to Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre Headley Court was spent on (a) living and mobility aids and (b) rehabilitation programmes and other associated healthcare services in financial year 2012-13.

Anna Soubry: The total amount of net additional cost of military operations (NACMO) funding utilised by the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC) in Financial Year 2012-13 was £5.86 million. Of this, the amount of NACMO funding spent on living and mobility aids and rehabilitation programmes and other associated healthcare services was £1.59 million. This includes locum cover, wheelchairs and mobility equipment, but excludes the provision of prosthetics and infrastructure expenditure. Commissioned treatments and services at the DMRC from private sector healthcare providers are covered by/comprise the contract for the provision of prosthetics. The amount of NACMO funding utilised for this in Financial Year 2012-13 was £4.27 million.

Flexible Working

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many and what proportion of (a) women and (b) men have made a statutory application to request flexible working in his Department; and how many of those applications have been granted to date.

Anna Soubry: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

European Fighter Aircraft

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Typhoon aircraft will be equipped with Captor-E scan radar; when he expects the first aircraft equipped with Captor-E scan radar to achieve initial operating capability; how much the Government has spent on developing that radar to date; and what estimate he has made of the total cost to the public purse.

Mr Philip Dunne: I refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave on 17 July 2014 (Official Report, column 797W) on 1 September 2014 (Official Report, column 95W) to the hon. Member for North Durham (Mr Kevan Jones) and on 8 September 2014 (Official Report, column 490W) to the hon. Member for Romford (Mr Andrew Rosindell). 



Hansard Extracts
(Word Document, 28.5 KB)

Military Aircraft

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the overall quantitative accident tolerability level for (a) the Tornado GR4, (b) the Typhoon and (c) the nine primary accident sets for each such platform.

Mr Philip Dunne: The overall tolerability level has been calculated at 0.84 per 1000 of the "population at risk" (as defined in MAA Regulatory Article 1210) per annum for Tornado and 0 per 1000 of the "population at risk" per annum for Typhoon, which are both within 'Tolerable' risk boundaries.Neither platform sets tolerability levels for each of the primary accident sets.

Sonar

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what research his Department has conducted or reviewed into the effect of military naval sonar on the navigation of whales and other cetaceans since 2004.

Mr Philip Dunne: The Ministry of Defence (MOD), together with NATO and other international partners, is actively involved in developing knowledge of the effect that use of military sonar has on the marine ecosystem. Since 2008 it has used the Environmental Risk Management Capability (ERMC), a Decision Support Tool that utilises the underpinning research conducted over the past 20 years.The MOD continues to fund relevant research including behavioural effects, marine mammal distribution, and marine mammal mitigation capability. The MOD also maintains a robust independent review process that ensures that relevant science is reviewed against the current ERMC practice and, where necessary, implemented. This ongoing process is supported by leading independent marine science organisations and the Government's Joint Nature Conservation Committee.

Armed Forces: Malaria

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many armed forces personnel have been prescribed Lariam or Mefloquine in each year since 2000; how many such soldiers have reported (a) hallucinations, (b) psychosis and (c) suicidal thoughts; and if he will make a statement.

Anna Soubry: The table shows the number of personnel prescribed Mefloquine between 2007 and 30 June 2014 and how many were subsequently seen for an initial assessment at a Ministry of Defence (MOD) Department for Community Mental Health (DCMH) or admission to a MOD in-patient provider for a mental health disorder.   YearNumber of personnel prescribed MefloquineNumber seen for an initial assessment for a mental health disorder20071,163020081,5232420092,7024720103,0928620112,76411820122,07515820133,1861892014 (up until 30 June)1,197101 Of those in the second column, seven had an initial assessment of Psychosis/Bipolar Affective Disorder. Like-for-like data before 2007 is not available. To provide numbers of personnel reporting with symptoms of hallucinations or suicidal thoughts would require the retrieval and review of individual patient records, which could be achieved only at disproportionate cost. The data on prescriptions for Mefloquine used in this response were derived from the integrated primary health record within the Defence Medical Information Capability Program data warehouse. It is not possible from this data to identify whether a mental health episode is associated with being prescribed Mefloquine.

Afghanistan

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Afghan interpreters served alongside the British Army in the last 12 months of operations in Afghanistan.

Mr Mark Francois: A total of 321 locally employed Afghan patrol interpreters worked alongside the British Army between November 2013 and October 2014.

Department for Work and Pensions

Work Capability Assessment

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how long on average people wait for work capability assessments; and which government regions are experiencing the longest waiting times.

Mr Mark Harper: Holding answer received on 20 November 2014



 The median time from receipt of the ESA50 questionnaire to the completion of the work capability assessment for the period from May 2010 to December 2013, was 74 days (latest data available for new claims to ESA). The regions experiencing the longest waiting times are London and Southern England.

Social Security Benefits: British Nationals Abroad

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department holds details on the total annual value of welfare benefits claimed in each EU member state by British citizens.

Esther McVey: Benefits paid by EEA countries to UK citizens in their territory are paid directly to the claimant and are not recorded by the Department. The Department collects information on the numbers but not the nationality of claimants in receipt of exportable UK benefits in the European Economic Area (EEA). The actual costs are not recorded separately.

Housing Benefit: Coastal Areas

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of local housing allowance and shared accommodation rate on the density of young people living in houses of multiple occupation in seaside towns.

Steve Webb: This specific information is not available. The Department did, however, commission an independent evaluation of the changes to Local Housing Allowance, including the extension of the shared accommodation rate. The final reports were published in July 2014 and are available at the following link:   https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-housing-allowance-monitoring-the-impact-of-changes

Income Support: Tynemouth

Mr Alan Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households in Tynemouth constituency have had income support capped since the introduction of the benefit cap.

Esther McVey: The number of households subject to the benefit cap by Parliamentary Constituency is published on gov.uk each quarter. The latest data, showing the total number of households capped from 15 April 2013, when the benefit cap was introduced, to August 2014, can be found in Table 1 of the data tables published here:   https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/benefit-cap-number-of-households-capped-to-august-2014   The benefit cap applies to the combined income from a number of benefits, including Income Support.   • the main out-of-work benefits (Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income Support, and Employment and Support Allowance except when the Support Component is in payment); • Housing Benefit; • Child Benefit; • Child Tax Credit; • other benefits such as Carer’s Allowance.   However, the cap is currently administered through Housing Benefit. This means that, if affected, it is only a household’s Housing Benefit entitlement that is reduced so that the total amount of benefit received is no longer higher than the cap level.

Flexible Working

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of (a) women and (b) men have made a statutory application to request flexible working in his Department; and how many of those applications have been granted to date.

Steve Webb: We are unable to provide the information requested because it is not held. Employees of DWP are not required to state whether their request for flexible working is statutory or non-statutory. DWP allows all of its employees to request flexible working and considers applications individually and in line with legislation.

Jobseeker's Allowance

Dr Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his policy is on jobseeker's allowance claimants undertaking a mandatory work activity or community work placement taking paternity leave.

Esther McVey: DWP delivers a number of programmes which provide work experience placements, such as Mandatory Work Activity, the Work Programme or Help to Work Community Work Placements. All of the department’s employment programmes are supportive initiatives, designed to help unemployed claimants gain skills and help them into work. Paternity leave is an entitlement that is available to people who are in paid employment. Therefore, it is not possible to claim paternity leave if you are claiming Jobseekers Allowance and are on a Mandatory Work Activity or Community Work Placement.

Poverty: Scotland

Dr Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households in Scotland were living in relative poverty and contained at least one person in work in each year since 1997.

Esther McVey: Households in relative low income are defined as those living below 60 per cent of contemporary median income. Table 1: Number of households in Scotland in relative low income and containing at least one person in work (Before and After Housing Costs), 1997/98-1999/00 to 2010/11-2012/13   Number (millions) BHCNumber (millions) AHC1997/98 - 1999/000.10.11998/99 - 2000/010.10.21999/00 - 2001/020.10.22000/01 - 2002/030.10.22001/02 - 2003/040.10.22002/03 - 2004/050.10.22003/04 - 2005/060.10.22004/05 - 2006/070.10.22005/06 - 2007/080.10.22006/07 - 2008/090.10.22007/08 - 2009/100.10.22008/09 - 2010/110.10.22009/10 - 2011/120.10.22010/11 - 2012/130.10.2  Source: HBAI 2012/13 Notes1. The figures published annually in the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) report are based on an individual level, rather than a household level, and therefore are not directly comparable to the figures in Table 1.2. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100,000.3. All estimates are based on survey data and are therefore subject to a degree of uncertainty. Small differences should be treated with caution as these will be affected by sampling error and variability in non-response.4. To be aware the Poverty and Income Inequality in Scotland report produced by the Scottish Government publishes single-year estimates on poverty and therefore the numbers presented here will not be consistent with these figures.

Welfare State: Scotland

Dr Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to accept the invitation to appear before the Scottish Parliament's Welfare Reform Committee.

Esther McVey: The Secretary of State has declined the invitation to appear before the Scottish parliament’s welfare reform committee. However DWP engages with the committee in a number of ways. Both Secretary of State and Minister for Welfare Reform have met informally with the Committee and a number of senior DWP officials have appeared before the Committee to give evidence, with the most recent appearance by the Work Services Director on the 29th of April this year.

Personal Independence Payment

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department has taken to monitor the effect on provision of (a) Blue Badges, (b) Carers' Allowance and (c) other interlinked support for people waiting longer than initially planned by his Department for decisions on personal independence payment claims.

Mr Mark Harper: The Department continues to monitor the effect of personal independence payment (PIP) on directly linked, passported benefits including carer’s allowance. As long as a carer claims carer’s allowance (CA) within 3 months of the PIP decision date, CA can be backdated to the date PIP became payable from. If a carer is already in receipt of CA they can continue to receive payment where the person they care for is an existing recipient of disability living allowance and they are in the process of claiming PIP.   The Department does not monitor the effect of PIP on the Blue Badge scheme or other support which can be provided irrespective of receipt of PIP.

Jobseeker's Allowance

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people were recorded as being unemployed under the jobseeker's allowance criteria in each year for which information is available; and how many people were taken off jobseeker's allowance as a result of their partner's income in each of those years.

Esther McVey: Statistics on the claimant count, which shows the number of Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) claimants can be found at www.nomisweb.co.uk Information on people leaving JSA as a result of their partner’s income is not available.

Jobseeker's Allowance: Disqualification

Mr Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much has been paid in sanctions applied to jobseekers' allowance claimants in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK in each of the last five years.

Esther McVey: We have interpreted the question to mean how much has been unpaid due to sanctions. The Department does not estimate the amount of benefit withheld as a result of benefit sanctions. The sanctions regime is designed to ensure claimants comply with their requirements in order to move off benefits and into work. There are no benchmarks or targets for sanctions referrals.

Post Office Card Account

Jason McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions he has had with ministerial colleagues on the future of the Post Office card account.

Steve Webb: Discussions continue between Her Majesty’s Government and Post Office LTD regarding the future of the Post Office card account and the needs of our customers beyond March 2015, announcements will be made when these discussions reach a conclusion.

Work Programme

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October 2014 to Question 209437, what the limit is on the transfer fee included in the procurement agreement; and what the costs of that fee are.

Esther McVey: It is not possible to comment on the limit or costs of the transfer fee included in the procurement agreement as sourcing activity is still not concluded and a commercial deal has not yet been reached.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to encourage recipients of universal credit to use jam jar accounts.

Mr Mark Harper: We are looking at a wide range of support options and considering the best outcomes for Universal Credit claimants which provide value for the taxpayer.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Bovine Tuberculosis

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the cost to the public purse has been of compensating farmers for TB in their herds in each of the last five years.

George Eustice: The table below shows the cost to the public purse for compensating farmers in England for TB in each of the last five years.   YearTotal TB Compensation costsHaulage costsSalvage receiptsNet cost of TB compensation2009£30.6m£1.7m-£3.4m£28m2010£28.6m£1.8m-£4.6m£25.8m2011£30.2m£2.21m-£8.9m£23.5m2012£34.1m£2.27m-£10.2m£26.1m2013£31.4m£2.18m-£8.8m£24.8m   Defra’s costs are offset by salvage receipts. Therefore, the real cost to Defra is what is paid out in compensation and haulage, less the receipts received back for salvage.

Bovine Tuberculosis

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the cost of TB in cattle herds on the UK agri-food industry in each of the last five years.

George Eustice: We don’t hold information on the costs of TB to the agri-food industry. TB currently costs government around £100m per year. Additionally it is estimated to cost English livestock farmers tens of millions of pounds. The average cost to a farmer of each TB herd breakdown in the High Risk Area has been estimated at around £14,000. The average cost to a farmer of each routine TB test has been estimated at around £350.

Fisheries: Quotas

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the UK's annual quota for skate and rays was in each ICES area in each year since 2000; and what the annual take up of the annual allocations by the UK was in each ICES area.

George Eustice: The UK’s uptake of Skates and Rays stocks is shown in the tables below. Information is based on figures held by the Marine Management Organisation, and all quota and catch figures are given in tonnes. Closing quota may be different from the UK’s opening quota allocation due to the effect of in year swaps or quota banked or borrowed during the previous year. Skates and Rays quota in the areas shown in Tables 2 and 3 were only introduced in 2009. Table 1: Skates and Rays, North Sea (Areas IV and IIa EU waters)YearOpening quotaClosing quotaCatch20003920.03920.01371.020013128.03128.01299.020023136.02331.01256.020032665.02655.01270.020042266.02266.01115.020052083.02080.0824.520061770.01695.0726.320071417.01019.9706.120081062.0766.0763.420091096.9756.7662.42010925.7676.7657.82011945.0870.0772.92012989.0774.0662.12013891.4807.8800.0   Table 2: Skates and Rays, West Coast (Areas VI EU waters and VII EU waters, excluding VIId) YearOpening quotaClosing quotaCatch20094070.04070.01924.720103460.03460.02260.220113287.03114.02028.820122873.02808.01999.620132587.42527.42105.7   Table 3: Skates and Rays (Area VIId) YearOpening quotaClosing quotaCatch2009157.0157.0161.92010133.0136.0107.02011147.0162.0149.32012149.0180.0173.52013135.9127.9109.8

Bovine Tuberculosis

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much her Department spent on bovine TB control in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12.

George Eustice: Net expenditure on bovine TB control in England, including expenditure on R&D, was £91.2 million in 2010-11. In 2011/12, net expenditure was £93.6 million

Department for Communities and Local Government

EU Grants and Loans

Mr Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Answer of 3 December 2013, Official Report, column 630W, on EU grants and loans, how much and what proportion of 2007 to 2013 European Regional Development Fund monies allocated to the UK with match-funding in place have been (a) contractually committed and (b) drawn down in (i) each English region and (ii) in total to date.

Penny Mordaunt: The information requested is provided in the attached table (1). The “contractually committed” figures are up to 30 September 2014. All contractually committed funding has had match funding identified, so no separate figures are shown for this.Across the programme, an average of 100% of the programme is now contractually committed. All spending of taxpayers’ money must ensure value for money; and money should not be spent on poor quality projects just for the sake of it. Spending must also comply with complex and bureaucratic EU rules, or else risk “financial corrections” down the line.Where the contractually committed figure is slightly less than the total allocation, this reflects the restrictive, bureaucratic rules associated with the whole programme, and the lack of flexibility in the rules.To place this in context, I attach with this answer a table (2) showing the allocations in the 2000-06 programme under the last Labour Government: only 93% of the allocation was ever committed, leaving £392 million of uncommitted resources; of which £48 million was uncommitted in the West Midlands Objective 2 area, £64 million uncommitted in the North West Objective 2 area, and £38 million uncommitted in the Yorkshire and the Humber Objective 2 area.In this context, despite the complexities, the 2007-13 programme has been far better administered under this Government than the 2000-06 programme under the last Administration.The European Regional Development Fund is a circular programme. UK taxpayers’ money is given to the European Union budget. Under the Fund, a local project receives a contract, spends money and then claims from DCLG. DCLG then claims funds back from the European Commission. The whole process goes through a complex auditing process involving DCLG auditors and then European Union auditors. After a period of time, the majority of unspent funding is returned to the UK Government by the European Commission. We continue to have concerns over the bureaucratic and time consuming nature of the processes involved in the programme, as a consequence of rules imposed by the European Commission. 



Table 1
(Word Document, 21.75 KB)




Table 2
(PDF Document, 300.58 KB)

Welfare Assistance Schemes

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what his future policy is on the Local Welfare Assistance Fund.

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what representations he has received about the Local Welfare Provision fund from (a) local authorities and (b) relevant third sector organisations.

Kris Hopkins: The consultation on how local welfare provision should be funded in 2015/16 closed on 21 November. The Government are analysing the responses, alongside the recently published review by the Department for Work and Pensions into existing provision. The Government will make a decision based on this analysis in time for the provisional local government finance settlement in December 2014.

Local Government

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the scope and range of the business interests and landholdings of local authorities; and if he will introduce restrictions on the scope of acquisition, expenditure and activity by local authorities in areas which bear no relation to their functions.

Kris Hopkins: Local authorities are accountable to their local residents and taxpayers. We have no plans to impose new monitoring regimes or restrictions. Indeed, councils now have a general power of competence under the Localism Act, and we have rolled back top-down inspection and performance management.We are committed to greater local accountability and transparency; for example, the updated local government Transparency Code now requires councils to publish their land holding and property assets. We are also taking steps to increase the transparency of local authority-owned companies.Local authorities should be using their surplus and redundant land and assets to promote economic growth and provide brownfield land for new homes. There is significant potential for them to work with the private sector in this regard, subject to taking appropriate steps to ensure planning probity.

Urban Areas

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what fiscal steps he is taking to ensure the sustainability of market towns in the UK.

Penny Mordaunt: The Government is fully committed to helping communities respond to the structural changes underway in our town centres. Since 2010 we have provided a total of £18.26 million, including support for Portas Pilots and town teams, business improvement districts and for markets. In addition, in late 2013 we introduced a £1 billion business rate support package for 2014-15 including: a 2% cap in the Retail Price Index increase in the small business rates multiplier;a retail discount of £1,000 for around 300,000 shops, pubs and restaurants with rateable values below £50,000;a 12 month extension of small business rate relief doubling, benefitting over half a million businesses; anda 50 per cent discount for new occupants of long-term vacant shops. All of these measures apply to England. The devolved administrations will have taken forward plans for their areas.

Royal Albert Dock

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what representations he has received on the award by GLA Land and Property Limited of the contract for commercial development of the Royal Albert Dock site to Advanced Business Park.

Brandon Lewis: The procurement and award of this contract is a matter for the Greater London Authority and is not a process in which this Department has been involved.

Community Assets

Andrew Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many properties have been listed as an asset of community value under the provisions of the Localism Act 2011 since that act entered into force.

Stephen Williams: The Government is not obliged to keep a list of assets which have been accepted as being of community value; this is the responsibility of the relevant local authority. However, we know that over 1,500 assets have been listed and these range from pubs (over 500), museums, parks and green spaces, post offices and village shops and an iconic cold war era control tower at Greenham Common. More information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/milestone-reached-as-community-rights-uses-hit-3000.

Wales Office

Flexible Working

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how many and what proportion of (a) women and (b) men have made a statutory application to request flexible working in his Department; and how many of those applications have been granted to date.

Alun Cairns: Since 30 June 2014, there have been no statutory applications to request flexible working. However, 11% of staff have a flexible working pattern - 14% women and 6% men.

Electronic Government

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what steps his Department is taking to ensure its services are available online; and if he will make a statement.

Alun Cairns: None. The Wales Office does not provide online services. The Wales Office provides support to the Secretary of State for Wales and other Wales Office Ministers and is not a public facing department.

HM Treasury

Income Tax: Tynemouth

Mr Alan Campbell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people in Tynemouth constituency paid the top rate of income tax in each of the last five years.

Mr David Gauke: Statistics on the number of additional rate income tax payers liable to pay by government office regions, including North East England, are published in HMRC’s income tax statistics, table 2.2: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/306856/Table_2.2.pdf   Constituency level information on additional rate tax payers is not published.

Tax Avoidance: Republic of Ireland

Austin Mitchell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what representations he has made to the Irish government about the double-Irish system of reducing the UK tax obligations of multinational corporations.

Austin Mitchell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of UK tax revenue foregone as a result of the double-Irish system.

Mr David Gauke: There are regular discussions of international tax issues in the ECOFIN Council, in the OECD and in other international fora including the G20. The UK is playing a leading role in reform of the international tax rules to ensure that companies pay their fair share.   The government keeps all aspects of the tax system under review. Changes to the UK tax system are announced as part of the normal fiscal cycle.

Tax Avoidance: Multinational Companies

Austin Mitchell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will request the EU's inspection teams to provide details of all preferential tax deals between (a) Luxembourg, (b) the Netherlands and (c) Ireland and multinational corporations which trade in the UK.

Mr David Gauke: The European Commission has a duty of confidentiality to Member States in relation to the information they provide to the Commission. Where appropriate, HMRC can request information relevant to UK tax matters directly from the fiscal authorities in Member States under existing arrangements for the exchange of information.

Tax Avoidance: Luxembourg

Austin Mitchell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what representations he has made to the government of Luxembourg about that country's tax agreements with multinational corporations who trade in the UK.

Austin Mitchell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what evidence he has given to the EU inquiry into the extent and means of tax avoidance by multinational corporations through Luxembourg and Ireland.

Mr David Gauke: The Treasury does not comment on confidential inquiries relating to the tax decisions of other Member States. The nature of State aid investigations is that they examine the specific circumstances in each case. It is therefore for each Member State to provide their own evidence to the European Commission. More widely, the UK is playing a leading role in reform of the international tax rules to ensure that companies pay their fair share, including in discussions in ECOFIN, the OECD and other international fora.

Economic Situation: Japan

Andrew Rosindell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential effects of the Japanese recession on the UK economy.

Andrew Rosindell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of slow economic growth in Europe on the UK.

Andrea Leadsom: The Treasury continually monitors global economic developments, including those in Europe and Japan, and their impact on the UK.   The UK is one of the most open economies in the world through trade and financial channels, so we are not immune from global developments. Despite the effects of these developments, the UK was the fastest growing major advanced economy (G7) in the first half of the year, the deficit is falling and there are record levels of people in work.   As the Chancellor said last month: “We need to send a clear message out around the world that we have a stable economy, that our economic plan is working, and that we’re not going to deviate from that economic plan, so that people around the world know that while Britain is not immune from what is going on in the world we can take steps to protect ourselves.”

Children: Day Care

Naomi Long: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much HM Revenue and Customs is planning to pay to National Savings and Investments to administer the proposed childcare payments scheme.

Priti Patel: HM Revenue and Customs wil incur costs to set up and administer the new scheme. The final costs are not yet available as they will only be settled once the precise details of the scheme have been finalised.

Department for Energy and Climate Change

Energy Companies Obligation

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Oral Answer of 6 November 2014, Official Report, column 955, on off-grid gas customers, what estimate his Department has made of the number of affordable warmth measures under the Energy Company Obligation which have been delivered in off-grid gas areas.

Amber Rudd: We do not collect information on the total number of households in ‘off gas grid areas’ that have benefited from Affordable Warmth measures. The percentage of households that benefited from Affordable Warmth measures whose primary fuel type was not mains gas up to 30 June 2014 was 1.1%. However, this is not an indicator of whether households were in an ‘off gas grid area’.The monthly Green Deal/Energy Company Obligation (ECO) statistical release published by the Department of Energy and Climate Change presents the number of measures installed under the rural sub-obligation of the Carbon Saving Communities Obligation (CSCO) strand of ECO which will include areas that are off-grid. The latest release was published on 20 November:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/green-deal-and-energy-company-obligation-eco-monthly-statistics-november-2014This shows that suppliers have installed 23,400 measures which Ofgem estimates will satisfy over half of their targets under the simplified scheme, up from 2% (834 measures) just five months earlier.As part of the new ECO Order for the period up until 2017, which is currently proceeding through Parliament, we have created incentives for energy suppliers to delivery more ECO measures in non-gas fuelled homes. We estimate this could increase delivery to non-gas households to as much as 30% by 2017.



Green Deal & ECO Stats November 2014
(PDF Document, 893.67 KB)

Fracking

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Oral Answer of 6 November 2014, Official Report, column 951, on fracking, if he will make it his policy to ensure that all proposed sites have an environmental impact assessment.

Matthew Hancock: All projects which are deemed to have significant effects on the environment will require an Environmental Impact Assessment.The industry has committed to perform Environmental Impact Assessments for all proposals involving hydraulic fracturing.

Gas Fired Power Stations

Mr Peter Lilley: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what studies his Department has made of the life expectancy and reliability of combined cycle gas turbines to provide balancing capacity for fluctuations in power generated by wind turbines.

Amber Rudd: The responsiveness of Open Cycle Gas Turbines (OCGTs) and Combined Cycle Gas Turbines (CCGTs) is such that they can be utilised to provide system balancing services at national or local level, including responding to fluctuations in wind generation.The Department published a study in June 2014 which contains information on the life expectancy of combined cycle gas turbines1.In addition, the Department has also commissioned two further studies2. The first considers the cost and performance of near-term and future CCGT plant when operating under different duty cycles to facilitate the increased level of intermittent renewable generation on the system. The second study considers the flexibility of gas plant and identifies typical start up times for both open cycle and combined cycle gas turbines.[1] Coal and Gas Assumptions, Parsons Brinckerhoff https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coal-and-gas-assumptions 2 Currently unpublished – the Department intends to publish both reports by the end of the year. 



Parsons Brinckerhoff: Coal & Gas Assumptions
(PDF Document, 2.16 MB)

Renewable Energy

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Oral Answer of 6 November 2014, Official Report, column 946, on energy and climate policies, what estimate his Department has made of the (a) extent and (b) timing of the investment in renewables referred to in the Answer.

Amber Rudd: The Department of Energy and Climate Change’s ‘Delivering UK Energy Investment’, published on 17 July 2014, sets out at table 1 (page 38) the calculated investment in renewable electricity generation capacity by technology between 2010–2013 and projected for 2014-2020:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/delivering-uk-energy-investment-2014For the period 2014-2020, DECC estimates that there will be a total of £40-50bn (at 2012 prices) of investment in renewable electricity projects. (Source: DECC estimates based on EMR Delivery Plan modelling (Scenario 1)).There are a number of sources analysing and interpreting new investment in UK renewable electricity, including DECC’s own analysis. However, data are not always readily comparable owing to differences in methodology, data collection points, timings and market coverage.



Delivering UK Energy Investment report
(PDF Document, 3.63 MB)

Biofuels

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if he will estimate the amount of carbon emitted to the UK atmosphere by subsidised generation of (a) heat by biomass boilers and (b) electricity by biomass power stations in the last 30 years.

Amber Rudd: Holding answer received on 24 November 2014



The Renewable Heat Incentive is subject to on-going evaluation and monitoring which has not yet completed and so emissions data are not available at present from subsidised biomass boilers used to generate heat. DECC will also be conducting a detailed monitoring and evaluation programme for biomass heat systems and has recently issued a tender to establish the methodology of how this could be done.In addition DECC is introducing mandatory biomass sustainability and greenhouse gas (GHG) criteria for both its heat and power support schemes which will mean biomass will be required to deliver a minimum 60% GHG emission saving relative to the EU fossil fuel average.

Warm Home Discount Scheme: Northern Ireland

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if he will make additional funds available to allow the Northern Ireland Executive to extend the Warm Home Discount Scheme to Northern Ireland; what recent steps he has taken to encourage the setting up of the Warm Home Discount Scheme in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement.

Amber Rudd: The Warm Home Discount is an obligation on energy suppliers operating in the GB-wide market for domestic customers.The scheme does not apply in Northern Ireland as fuel poverty is devolved to the Northern Ireland Executive, which decides its own fuel poverty objectives and policies.

Energy: Prices

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Answer of 11 June 2014 to Question 198624, by which process his Department estimates wholesale (a) electricity and (b) gas prices.

Matthew Hancock: Wholesale prices reported in Question 198624 represented the average of each days “day ahead” price for electricity and gas over the named months. These are based on market prices provided to us on a commercial basis by Marex Spectron and ICIS Heren for electricity and gas respectively.

Energy: Prices

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Answer of 11 June 2014 to Question 198624, if he will place in the Library a copy of his Department's estimate of wholesale (a) electricity and (b) gas prices in each month between January 2007 and November 2014.

Matthew Hancock: Monthly estimates of wholesale gas and electricity prices will be placed in the Library as requested.

Warm Home Discount Scheme

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate he has made of the cost of extending the Warm Homes Discount to park home residents.

Amber Rudd: We recently consulted on the rules for the Warm Home Discount to apply in 2015/16. As part this consultation, we proposed amending the Industry Initiatives element of the scheme to allow participating energy suppliers to have the opportunity to provide rebates to residents of Park Homes. Providing support to park home residents in this way would be at the discretion of suppliers, who would also determine the level of support made available. The consultation closed on 13 November and we are currently analysing the responses. We expect to lay draft Regulations in early 2015.

Cabinet Office

Low Pay

Mr John Denham: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of (a) men and (b) women in (i) full-time and (ii) part-time work in each (A) local authority area and (B) parliamentary constituency earning less than the living wage.

Mr Rob Wilson: The Cabinet Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Flexible Working

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of (a) women and (b) men have made a statutory application to request flexible working in his Department; and how many of those applications have been granted to date.

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of (a) women and (b) men working in the Office of the Prime Minister have made a statutory application to request flexible working; and how many of those applications have been granted to date.

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of (a) women and (b) men have made a statutory application to request flexible working in his Office; and how many of those applications have been granted to date.

Mr Francis Maude: The Prime Minister’s Office and Deputy Prime Minister’s Office are an integral part of the Cabinet Office.My Department supports measures to improve flexible working. Cabinet Office provides a number of flexible working options including but not exclusive to: part-time and compressed hours working; job-sharing; and working remotely or from home. All such arrangements must be agreed by line management.Decisions on the availability of flexible working options are taken within each management unit as the local managers are best placed to judge the demands of the business and the contribution of the individual. It is business needs that determine what flexible working patterns can be accommodated. Details of flexible working applications and of the staff who work flexibly are not collated centrally.

Government Digital Service

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of (a) generalist and (b) technical employees and contract staff in the Government Digital Service are (i) Black and minority ethnic and (ii) female.

Mr Francis Maude: All staff employed by the Government Digital Service (GDS) have a mixture of both technical and digital skills.

Cancer

Ms Diane Abbott: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the rate of cancer survival is in hospitals in (a) East London NHS Foundation Trust, (b) London and (c) England.

Mr Rob Wilson: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply. 



ONS Letter to Member - Cancer Rate
(PDF Document, 104.54 KB)

Department for Culture Media and Sport

Mobile Phones

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent conversation he has had with Ofcom on the introduction of a gaining provider-led switching system in the mobile sector.

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment he has made of the potential effect on consumers of the implementation of a gaining provider-led switching system in the mobile sector.

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department has taken to support the introduction of gaining provider-led switching systems since the publication of his Department's report, Connectivity, Content and Consumers in July 2013.

Mr Edward Vaizey: DCMS officials have frequent contact with Ofcom to take forward this work. I want the switching process to be as easy and straightforward as possible for consumers and I recognise that switching processes work better for consumers when only one call needs to be made for the switch to happen, to the gaining provider. Working with Ofcom, we will do everything we can to move towards a system of gaining-provider led switching across the board.In July, Ofcom published a call for inputs (which closed in September) on switching providers of broadband, pay-TV, mobile voice and data services and bundled services, in order to gauge the impact of these processes on consumers’ experience and on competition. Ofcom is conducting further research and holding discussions with industry and consumer organisations. It will publish a document setting out its findings in the first half of 2015.We set out our thinking on GPL switching in the Connectivity, Content and Consumers [CCC} Strategy Paper, published in July 2013. In December 2013 Ofcom announced that GPL switching would be mandated for broadband and fixed telephony over the Openreach network. Full implementation of this will be completed by June 2015. Since then, Ofcom has been assessing the consumer experience of switching mobile services, pay-TV and bundles of electronic communications services and will report in the first half of 2015, as I describe above.

Broadband: Complaints

Dame Angela Watkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what access arrangements are in place for broadband subscribers to make complaints via Openreach about poor quality of service.

Mr Edward Vaizey: Complaints about poor service should be directed to the communications provider who supplies the broadband service and that customers have a contractual relationship with. Openreach is not a customer-facing organisation; it was created to offer all communications providers providing retail broadband and telephone services equality of access to BT's network.Openreach is accountable to communications providers to meet its responsibilities to manage the local access network infrastructure that connects customers to their local telephone exchange. Communications providers have a duty of care to manage consumer complaints and ensure that Openreach provides a high quality service.Customers who are dissatisfied with the handling of their complaint by communications providers have the option of an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) scheme. An ADR Scheme is an independent system of redress for customers who feel they have been poorly or unreasonably dealt with by a communications service provider. Ofcom, the independent telecommunications regulator, requires all communications providers to be a member of such a scheme.Since 1 July Ofcom has applied new rules to bring about faster line repairs and installations for telephone and broadband customers. As a minimum Openreach must, over the course of a given year:• Complete 80% of fault repairs within one to two working days of being notified, irrespective of factors such as severe weather conditions.• Provide an appointment for 80% of new line installations within 12 working days of being notified, irrespective of factors such as severe weather conditions.• Ensure it adheres to these new standards across the country.• Provide data on repairs and installations that are not completed within this timeframe. This information will allow Ofcom to monitor Openreach’s performance closely and intervene further if required, as this includes the ability to impose fines if necessary.

Flexible Working

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many and what proportion of (a) women and (b) men have made a statutory application to request flexible working in his Department; and how many of those applications have been granted to date.

Mrs Helen Grant: All posts are advertised on a flexible basis. This approach significantly reduces the need for employees to make a statutory application for flexible working and we have no record of any such request having been made.

Department of Health

Cancer

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will commission research on (a) innovative pathways to diagnose cancer earlier and (b) encouraging the use of such pathways in the NHS.

George Freeman: The Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is funding a £2 million five-year programme of research to understand the reasons why cancer diagnosis may be delayed, and to consider new designs for testing for cancer. The programme is a partnership between the Universities of Bristol, Cambridge, Bangor, Durham, Oxford, Exeter, the NIHR and Bristol NHS Clinical Commissioning Group. The programme objectives are to design and test new service pathways to cancer diagnosis which are based on sound medical evidence, make efficient use of resources and take full account of patients' views. The programme ends in June 2015.   The Department’s Policy Research Programme funds the Policy Research Unit in Cancer Awareness, Screening and Early Diagnosis at the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Queen Mary University of London. The unit carries out research to inform the development of policies that promote diagnosis of cancers at an earlier stage than that prevailing at the moment. These might include policies to enhance access to screening and diagnostic facilities, technical innovations in screening and diagnosis, policies to improve public awareness of cancer and cancer symptoms, and to encourage prompt seeking of medical advice for symptoms. The unit is addressing this need with a programme of research carried out in all areas of England in co-operation with screening services, primary and secondary care.   We take the issue of ensuring rapid access to innovative therapies, including those for cancer, very seriously. This is why we have launched an external review of the pathways for the development, assessment and adoption of innovative medicines and medical technology. This review will consider how to speed up access for National Health Service patients to cost-effective new diagnostics, medicines and devices. It will set out both short and long-term options for action by Government and relevant bodies (including the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency and NHS England), and mark a major contribution to the policy debate.

Influenza: Vaccination

Mr Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make it his policy to impose a statutory obligation on the employers of home care workers to provide free influenza vaccinations to their home care employees.

Mr Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will require it to be a condition of commissioning home care provision that employers of home care workers pay for influenza vaccinations for their domiciliary workforce.

Jane Ellison: We have no plans to mandate the provision of the annual flu vaccination.   Frontline health and social care workers have a duty of care to protect their patients and service users, colleagues and family members from infection. Therefore, as in previous years, free flu immunisation should be offered by National Health Service organisations to all employees directly involved in delivering care. This is not an NHS service, but an occupational health responsibility being provided to NHS staff by employers. Social care providers and independent primary care providers should also consider vaccination of staff.   The Health and Social Care Act 2008, Code of Practice on the prevention and control of infections and related guidance, emphasises the need to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that care workers are free of and are protected from exposure to infections that can be caught at work and that all staff are suitably educated in the prevention and control of infection associated with the provision of health and social care.   The Code of Practice states that registered providers should ensure that policies and procedures are in place in relation to the prevention and control of infection. This includes access to occupational health services and that employers should make vaccine available free of charge to employees if a risk assessment indicates that it is needed.   A copy of the Health and Social Care Act 2008, Code of Practice is attached. 



Code of Practice 
(PDF Document, 785.59 KB)

Cancer

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what studies he has commissioned on the potential benefits of using dogs to establish early signs of cancer in humans.

George Freeman: A study of key considerations for the experimental training and evaluation of cancer odour detection dogs has recently been published in the journal BMC Urology. The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Research Design Service for the East Midlands participated in this study.

Veterans: Visual Impairment

Sir Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 22 October 2014 to Question 210999, if he will publish the timetable for his further consideration of the collection of data on people registering as visually impaired who are veterans.

Sir Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make it his policy to include an option to identify vision-impaired veterans on the registration document with NHS England and the Health and Social Care Information Centre.

Dr Daniel Poulter: The Department has received initial advice from NHS England and Blind Veterans UK on the collection of this data.   A formal meeting with NHS England, Blind Veterans UK, the Health and Social Care Information Centre and Primary Health Care Optometry leads will be arranged in the next few weeks to consider the options for collecting data on veterans registering as visually impaired and plan the best mechanism for doing so.

Speech Therapy: Children

Sir Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions he has had with the Department for Education on changes in funding for speech therapy for children; and if he will make a statement.

Dr Daniel Poulter: We have not had any specific recent discussion on changes in funding for speech and language therapy and are not aware of any change in funding arrangements. Local authorities (and some schools), and clinical commissioning groups commission speech and language therapy to meet the educational and health needs of the children and young people for whom they are responsible.   We introduced in September a new statutory framework for joint commissioning of services for children and young people with special educational needs and disability (which includes many with a communication need), which requires commissioners to work together in assessment, planning and securing of services.

General Practitioners

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many GPs there were in the Hull local authority area in each of the last five years; what the ratio of GPs to population was in that area in those years; and what the ratio of GPs to population was for England in those years.

Dr Daniel Poulter: The information is not available in the format requested.   The following table shows the number of full-time equivalent general practitioners (GP) (including retainers and registrars) in England, Hull Teaching Primary Care Trust (PCT) area, and Hull NHS Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) area, from 2009-2013.20092010201120122013England36,08535,24335,31935,87136,294Hull PCT155163163163-Hull NHS CCG----166   Source: The Health and Social Care Information Centre General and Personal Medical Services Statistics. Office for National Statistics, Mid-Year Population Estimates (2011 census based).   The following table shows the ratio of full-time equivalent GPs (including retainers and registrars) per 100,000 population in England, Hull Teaching PCT area, and Hull NHS CCG area, from 2009-2013.20092010201120122013England69.667.567.167.567.8Hull PCT60.463.663.563.8-Hull NHS CCG----64.7   Source: The Health and Social Care Information Centre General and Personal Medical Services Statistics. Office for National Statistics, Mid-Year Population Estimates (2011 census based).   The following table shows the number of full-time equivalent GPs (excluding retainers and registrars) in England, Hull Teaching PCT area, and Hull NHS CCG area, from 2009-2013.20092010201120122013England32,11131,35631,39131,57832,075Hull PCT150155152150-Hull NHS CCG----151   Source: The Health and Social Care Information Centre General and Personal Medical Services Statistics. Office for National Statistics, Mid-Year Population Estimates (2011 census based).   The following table shows the ratio of full-time equivalent GPs (excluding retainers and registrars) per 100,000 population in England, Hull Teaching Primary Care Trust area, and Hull NHS Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) area, from 2009-2013.20092010201120122013England62.060.159.659.560.0Hull PCT58.460.559.458.6-Hull NHS CCG----58.6   Sources: The Health and Social Care Information Centre General and Personal Medical Services Statistics. Office for National Statistics, Mid-Year Population Estimates (2011 census based).   Notes:  Data as at 30 September each year.GP Workforce figures are only available by NHS organisations. Data for Hull Local Authority is not available.   Figures are presented for the organisations that were in operation at the time of the relevant census. Hull Teaching Primary Care Trust was replaced by NHS Hull Clinical Commissioning Group in April 2013.   Population figures are the ONS Resident Population figures not numbers of registered patients. The figures used are the latest available from ONS and may differ from previous NHS Workforce publications where estimates have since been updated.

Swinfenhall Prison

Mr Alan Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many prisoners held in HM Prison and Young Offender Institution Swinfen Hall have been diagnosed with (a) ADHD and (b) Asperger's Syndrome.

Norman Lamb: This information is not collected centrally.

Cancer

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the extent of access on the NHS to new treatments for patients with rarer cancers.

George Freeman: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has recommended a number of treatments for rarer cancers. In addition, a number of drugs used in rarer cancers are available through the Cancer Drugs Fund administered by NHS England.

Social Services

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the duties relating to adult social care currently carried out by local authorities that could be transferred to charities in order to increase efficiency and quality of care.

Norman Lamb: Under the Care Act, from April 2015 local authorities will have the power to delegate nearly all of their adult care and support functions, except for some powers and duties around safeguarding, integration, and charging.   The statutory guidance on delegation, published in October 2014, sets out how this will allow local authorities to work more efficiently and innovatively, including with charities, and provide better quality care and support to local populations. The guidance also notes that many external organisations may have specialist expertise or capacity that could mean delegation is the best approach.   When a local authority delegates any of its functions, it retains ultimate responsibility for the carrying out of that function.

Mental Health Services: Young People

Mr Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what research his Department has commissioned on supporting young people moving from children's to adult's mental health services.

George Freeman: The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) Cambridgeshire and Peterborough (now the CLAHRC East of England) has funded a range of research on this topic. Details are available on the CLAHRC’s website at:   http://clahrc-cp.nihr.ac.uk/   Details of outputs from a project on this topic are available on the NIHR Evaluation, Trials and Studies website at:   http://www.nets.nihr.ac.uk/projects/hsdr/081613117   The NIHR is currently funding a £2 million programme of research on how health services can contribute most effectively to facilitating successful transition of young people with complex health needs from childhood to adulthood. This programme ends in April 2017.   The Department’s Policy Research Programme funds the Policy Research Unit in the Health of Children, Young People and Families at University College London. The unit is currently undertaking a research project to explore issues around expanding adolescent and young adult care and movement of transition point to 24 years of age.

Vaccination: Children

Mr Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the take up of childhood vaccinations in (a) Lambeth, (b) Greater London and (c) the UK for each ethnic group.

Jane Ellison: Childhood vaccination uptake data by ethnicity is not routinely collected. Accordingly it is not possible to provide any information relating to Lambeth and the United Kingdom for each ethnic group.   In relation to Greater London, a paper was published in 2013 which summarised the results of a specific one-off study to assess childhood vaccination uptake by ethnicity in London for children born between 2006-07 and 2010-11. The study covered nine London Primary Care Trust areas (Camden, Waltham Forest, Redbridge, Havering, Barking and Dagenham, Bexley, Ealing, Hounslow, Sutton and Merton). A copy of the study is attached. 



Childhood vaccination in London 2006-07 & 2010-11
(PDF Document, 1.55 MB)

Vaccination: Children

Mr Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the take up of childhood vaccinations in (a) Lambeth, (b) Greater London and (c) the UK among those subject to immigration control; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: Information on the immigration status of children being vaccinated is not routinely collected. The information requested is therefore not available.

Human Papillomavirus: Vaccination

Mr Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the take up of the HPV vaccine in (a) Lambeth, (b) Greater London and (c) the UK for each ethnic group.

Jane Ellison: HPV vaccination uptake data by ethnicity is not routinely collected and collated nationally. Accordingly it is not possible to provide information relating to the take up of the HPV vaccine in Lambeth, Greater London and the United Kingdom for each ethnic group.   Some studies conducted in England have demonstrated lower vaccination uptake in non-white ethnic groups. Sacks et al1 reported 3-dose HPV vaccination coverage among young women attending sexual health services across England of 72% among the White ethnic group, 56% in the Asian ethnic group and 55% in the Black ethnic group. Bowyer et al2  showed that among young girls attending school in London, those from non-white ethnic backgrounds were significantly less likely to report having received all three doses of the HPV vaccine than those from the white ethnic group.   1Sacks RJ, Copas AJ, Wilkinson DM, Robinson AJ. Uptake of the HPV vaccination programme in England: a cross-sectional survey of young women attending sexual health services. Sex Transm Infect 2014 Jun;90(4):315-21. 2Bowyer HL, Dodd RH, Marlow LA, Waller J. Association between human papillomavirus vaccine status and other cervical cancer risk factors. Vaccine 2014 Jul 23;32(34):4310-6.

Prisoners: Mental Illness

Mr Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of prisoners had mental health difficulties upon arrival in adult prison in each year from 2005 to 2014 to date.

Mr Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what funding his Department has provided to prisons to offer care to prisoners with mental health problems.

Mr Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he has taken to ensure prisoners diagnosed with mental health difficulties continue to receive support upon their release from custody; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of people in custody in youth offender institutions had mental health difficulties upon arrival in custody in each year from 2005 to 2014 to date.

Norman Lamb: Health assessments are undertaken during an individual’s reception into prison or a youth offender institution. This includes a mental health assessment, which identifies any treatment and support needed. Information on the proportion of people with mental health difficulties entering prison or a youth offender institution is not available centrally.   The Government is rolling out liaison and diversion services in police stations and courts across England, commissioned by NHS England and with full coverage by 2017. Funding for these services in 2014-15 is £25 million. These services identify offenders with vulnerabilities, including mental health problems, in order to facilitate referral into relevant treatment services as soon as possible.   Since April 2013, NHS England has commissioned health services within prisons and young offender institutions. As in the community, prison mental health services are provided through a combination of primary care and specialist teams and most prisoners’ needs can be met by primary care. Care for prisoners’ more serious mental health conditions is usually provided by specialist in-reach teams, but if prisoners’ need psychiatric inpatient care they can be transferred to a secure mental health hospital if they meet the criteria to be detained under the Mental Health Act 1983.   For offenders leaving custody, National Health Service guidance sets an expectation that prisoners are either registered with a general practitioner (GP) practice before they leave or are provided with the necessary information to register with a GP on release and, where possible, provided with support in doing so. This will help facilitate continuity of care on release.   Released prisoners can access the full range of mental health services available in the community. Offenders with identified mental health problems, who need secondary mental health services, are subject to the Care Programme Approach (CPA) during their stay in prison and on release. CPA enables the planning of treatment and continuity of mental health care for the individual. On release from prison, offenders needing CPA should have a care plan and, pre-release, the prison mental health in-reach team should inform and share information with the individual's GP to ensure continuity of care.

Diabetes

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps health and wellbeing boards take to monitor their progress on raising awareness of diabetes.

Norman Lamb: Health and Wellbeing Boards are responsible for the development of Joint Strategic Needs Assessments to identify the current and future health and wellbeing needs of the local population, and a Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy to meet these needs. This may include an analysis and plans in respect of the prevalence, impact and levels of awareness of diabetes among the local population.   Local communities are able to see what boards have chosen to prioritise and how they are monitoring progress towards delivery thanks to the duties of openness under which Boards must work; and to hold boards to account through the local democratic process.   The Department has not highlighted any particular issue over another for attention by Boards, nor has the Department specified the way in which they should monitor progress towards their delivery of their priorities. This would risk undermining the importance of Boards being locally-owned and responding to the needs of their local populations.

Influenza: Vaccination

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department plans to take to educate vulnerable people about winter flu jabs; and what he expects the result of those steps to be.

Jane Ellison: Flu immunisation information, including campaign materials and patient leaflets, have been produced for the use of the National Health Service, local authorities, voluntary organisations and others in contact with those who are eligible for flu immunisation this winter.   A flu immunisation advertising campaign was launched on 6 October with the aim of encouraging those most at risk of the effects of flu to take up the offer of flu immunisation. The campaign targets those aged under 65 who have long-term health conditions, including pregnant women who are at risk of complications. It also targets the parents or carers of healthy children aged two to four years, who are also being offered immunisation. Advertising is running nationally on radio and in print media, supported by digital search, social media and public relations activity. The campaign has been extended to run until the end of November. The Chief Medical Officer has also written to voluntary organisations and charities whose members are in at-risk groups, to request their help in encouraging their members to be vaccinated against flu, and campaign resources have been provided to these organisations.

Hospitals: Waiting Lists

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of patients waited longer than 18 weeks for treatment in hospitals in (a) Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust and (b) England.

Jane Ellison: Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust is experiencing problems with the patient administration system it implemented in November 2013 and its last submitted consultant-led referral to treatment waiting times are for that month. From time to time, trusts do need to implement new systems and temporarily suspend submissions of data for technical reasons. The NHS Trust Development Authority is working intensively with the trust so that it can begin submitting data again as quickly as possible.   The last submitted information for the trust is in the following table, together with the equivalent and most recent information for England.   Percentage of patients who waited longer than 18 weeks to start treatment, and patients waiting more than 18 weeks to start treatment, November 2013 and September 2014  Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS TrustEngland November 2013November 2013September 2014Admitted patients9.5%9.0%11.7%Non-admitted patients2.0%3.5%4.8%Patients waiting more than 18 weeks to start treatment (incomplete pathways)9.4%6.0%6.5% Source: Consultant-led referral to treatment waiting times, NHS England

Flexible Working

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many and what proportion of (a) women and (b) men have made a statutory application to request flexible working in his Department; and how many of those applications have been granted to date.

Dr Daniel Poulter: Decisions on flexible working patterns for individual civil servants are taken locally by the individuals’ line managers and that information is not stored centrally. To establish the figures from all local sections of the Department, about the uptake of flexi-time, compressed hours, term-time working and other flexible working arrangements, by gender, would therefore incur disproportionate costs.

Cancer: Greater London

Glenda Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has to support hospital trusts in London to deliver better experience of care for cancer patients; and if he will make a statement.

Glenda Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps (a) his Department and (b) NHS England is taking to improve the experience of cancer patients from ethnic minorities; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: Cancer patients are increasingly positive about their care, with 89% rating it as excellent or very good, and this comes as the National Health Service treats more patients for cancer than ever before. The National Cancer Patient Experience Survey results in 2014 show in over half the questions asked, compared to the 2010 survey, patients reporting positively on areas, including feeling they were given enough information, being offered a range of treatment options and being treated with respect and dignity. Where they are telling us we need to do better it is important that swift action is taken and NHS trusts and commissioners must reflect on their results and take action as appropriate.   NHS England is working with NHS Improving Quality and Macmillan Cancer Support to ensure that improvement work is supported by spreading good practice across hospitals providing care in a drive to reduce national variation in patients’ experience of care and raise overall standards, including in London. This includes the experience of care for black and minority ethnic (BME) patients and vulnerable groups.   The Cancer Patient Experience Advisory Group, at its January meeting, will discuss priorities for improvement in cancer patient experience, including for BME patients.

Children: Health

Mr Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to reduce further the rate of smoking, drug use and consumption of alcohol among secondary school pupils.

Jane Ellison: Most smokers start using tobacco regularly before the age of 18 so the Government has taken action to reduce the numbers of young people taking up smoking, for example by implementing legislation to end the open display of tobacco in shops.   Tobacco can no longer be sold from vending machines in England, which has removed an easily accessible source of cigarettes for underage smokers. We introduced a package of measures in the Children and Families Act aimed at protecting young people from tobacco and nicotine addiction and the serious health harms of smoked tobacco, including ending smoking in private vehicles carrying children and introducing an age of sale for electronic cigarettes.   Our strategy is working and it is welcome news that smoking rates among young people are also falling, with 8% of 15 year olds smoking. This achieves the national ambition to reduce smoking in 15 year olds to 12% or less by the end of 2015.   We are committed to reducing the number of young people using drugs and ensuring that they are equipped with the information they need to make informed, healthy decisions and to keep themselves safe is essential. We are investing in a range of programmes which have a positive impact on young people, giving them the confidence, resilience and risk management skills to choose not to misuse drugs and/or alcohol. Examples include:   - through mainstream support and the FRANK drug information and advice service we are providing tailored information and advice to young people and to parents, to help them protect their children from drug and/or alcohol misuse; - drug and alcohol education is part of national curriculum science at key stage 2 and key stage 3 and schools are encouraged, by the Department of Education, to build on this provision through the Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) teaching within their classrooms; and - we have also developed online tools for educators and commissioners that include the Alcohol and Drug Education and Prevention Information Service (ADEPIS) which provides practical advice and tools based on the best international evidence; and the Centre for the Analysis of Youth Transitions (CAYT) has developed a database of evaluations of programmes aimed at improving outcomes for young people.   In addition, this winter, Public Health England is aiming to launch Rise Above, an online resource and social movement designed to build young people’s (11-16 years old) resilience and empower them to make positive choices for their health. This includes equipping them with the resilience skills to tackle the health challenges of adolescence and handle risky situations.   The Government’s Alcohol Strategy set out several measures to support our commitment to reducing underage drinking. These include educating young people on the risks associated with alcohol and by addressing factors that can influence young people’s attitude to alcohol, such as parental drinking. We are ensuring that guidance is available for parents through a range of public and community organisations including; NHS Choices, Directgov, Family Lives, and NetMum, Mumsnet, Dad Talk and Contact a Family.   The Government has also reformed the Licensing Act to give local communities more powers. The Act includes provisions to double fines for under-age alcohol sales to £20,000 and give councils and the police the power to shut permanently shops or bars that persistently sell to children.

Out of Area Treatment: Wales

Glyn Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many patients resident in Wales are registered with GPs in England; and how many patients resident in England are registered with GPs in Wales.

Jane Ellison: As of 16 November 2014, 20,795 patients in England were registered with a Welsh Practice.   As of 4 November 2014, 14,832 patients in Wales were registered with an English Practice.   Source: Regular NHAIS System capitation extracts.

Tobacco: Packaging

Dr Sarah Wollaston: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he plans to lay before Parliament regulations on the standardised packaging of cigarettes and tobacco products.

Dr Sarah Wollaston: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he plans to make a final decision on whether to proceed with the introduction of the standardised packaging of cigarettes and tobacco products; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: The Government has not yet made a final decision on whether to introduce standardised packaging of tobacco products. The Government continues to consider carefully all issues relevant to the introduction of standardised packaging of tobacco products. Any decision about the appropriate Parliamentary timetable for the proposed regulations will be made if required, when the Government has made its final decision.   The draft regulations were notified to the European Commission under the Technical Standards Directive on 29 August. This started an initial three month “standstill” period. We have received a detailed opinion from a Member State which extends the “standstill” period to six months.

Antibiotics

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will direct the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to assess the clinical and cost-effectiveness of emerging novel antibiotics in order to prove their value and inform the appropriate adoption of such products within the parameters of local and national NHS antibiotic stewardship programmes.

George Freeman: The Department welcomes new developments in antibiotic treatments. We will work to ensure that promising new treatments are referred to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, where appropriate.

Cancer: Drugs

Mr John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to develop a long-term replacement for the Cancer Drugs Fund.

George Freeman: We are committed to maintaining the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) until the end of March 2016. We will carefully consider with NHS England what arrangements should be put in place in the longer term for the CDF and the assessment and commissioning of specialist and innovative medicines.

Diabetes

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the (a) number of accidents caused by hypoglycaemia annually and (b) cost to the NHS of those accidents.

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many ambulance calls outs there have been that involved patients with type 2 diabetes suffering hypoglycaemia in each of the last five years.

Jane Ellison: As this information is not collected or held centrally, no estimate can be made.

Diabetes

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions his Department has had with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence about improving clinical guidelines on managing hypoglycaemia among patients with type 2 diabetes.

George Freeman: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is responsible for regularly reviewing its guidance to ensure that it reflects the latest available evidence. Ministers have had no such discussions with NICE on its guidance.   NHS England is now responsible for referring new topics for development through NICE’s clinical guideline work programme.   We understand that NICE plans to publish an updated clinical guideline on the management of type 2 diabetes in adults in 2015. The scope for this clinical guideline update was developed in consultation with stakeholders and states that it will not consider the management of hypoglycaemia, unless this is as a consequence of pharmacological interventions for hyperglycaemia. The final scope for the clinical guideline update is available at:   www.nice.org.uk/guidance/gid-cgwave0612/documents/type-2-diabetes-final-scope2

NHS

Stephen Gilbert: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 3 November 2014 to Question 212409, whether any clinical policies developed in the last three years have not followed this process.

Jane Ellison: Since NHS England took on responsibility for specialised commissioning in April 2013, the specialised services Clinical Reference Groups have developed all clinical policies for specialised services. These clinical policies have all passed through the NHS England governance committees process, which is outlined in the answer I gave to the hon. Member on 3 November 2014 to Question 212409.

Antibiotics

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department will assess the effect that the creation of a centrally maintained list of priority pathogens would have on encouraging innovation within the field of antibiotic research and development.

George Freeman: Key pathogens are already identified in The UK Five Year Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy 2013 to 2018 and our expert advisory committee regularly reviews the specified combinations of bacteria and associated drug resistance. A copy of the Strategy has been attached. 



The UK five year Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy
(PDF Document, 429.08 KB)

Health Services: Weather

Mr Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when it was decided to delay the publication of winter pressure weekly reports.

Mr Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether any NHS and Foundation Trusts have submitted data to NHS England for winter pressure weekly reports.

Jane Ellison: NHS England advised that on 14 November it decided not to publish the winter weekly report for week ending 12 November because the statistical and operational commentary was not finalised in time.   On 20 November NHS England decided to suspend the publication of the winter weekly report for week ending 19 November, in order to undertake a short review of information requirements. The review will consider what data to include in daily collections, whether the burden of reporting can be reduced, and assess alternative information sources for inclusion in future reporting.   All acute and general NHS and foundation trusts submit data for weekly accident and emergency situation reports all year round.

Health Professions: Regulation

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will bring forward proposals to regulate the Physicians' Associate profession.

Dr Daniel Poulter: The Government’s position on professions not currently subject to statutory regulation, such as Physician Associates, is as stated in the Enabling Excellence Command Paper (2011). This is that the extension of statutory regulation will only be considered where there is a compelling case on the basis of public safety risk and where assured voluntary registers are not considered sufficient to manage this risk.

Health Visitors: Regulation

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will bring forward proposals to regulate health visitors and entry to that profession.

Dr Daniel Poulter: Health visitors are, in conjunction with other members of the nursing and midwifery professions, currently regulated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). Once registered as a nurse or midwife in parts one or two of the NMC’s register, health visitors can then register in part three - for Specialist Community Public Health Nurses. Regulation exists for public protection and the NMC code and scope of practice encompasses all nurses and midwives, including those in community public health like health visitors - ensuring that this protection is in place.

Accident and Emergency Departments

Roberta Blackman-Woods: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to reduce the number of patients attending A&E departments.

Jane Ellison: Holding answer received on 25 November 2014



We are providing an additional £700 million to help the National Health Service cope with winter pressures.   Further, the Prime Minister’s £50 million Challenge Fund is currently improving general practitioner access for over 3 million patients across England. This includes offering evening and weekend appointments, as well as better use of technology. By January, 7.5 million patients will be covered.

Women and Equalities

Business: Females

Ms Diane Abbott: To ask the Ministers for Women and Equalities, what steps her Department is taking to address the gender pay gap in the financial sector and to increase female representation at board level in FTSE100 companies; and if she will make a statement.

Jo Swinson: The gender pay gap in the UK is at an historic low. In the financial & insurance activities sector, the overall gender pay gap is (including both part time and full time workers) down from 44.3% in 2011 to 40.2% in 2014. However, the sector still has a completely unacceptable pay gap of around twice the national average, so more needs to be done. We are strongly encouraging more girls to consider maths and science-related careers through the “Your Life” initiative. Women in the sector will also benefit from the many other measures we are taking to drive the pay gap down further, including extending flexible working to all employees; introducing Shared Parental Leave; and bringing in new childcare tax provisions. We are also providing free software to companies for them to calculate any pay gaps and to analyse the causes of them.  The UK takes a voluntary approach increasing the numbers of women on boards. We are making progress with the Lord Davies business-led initiative to achieve 25% women on boards by 2015 and have moved from 12.5% to nearly 23% of women on the boards of the top 100 companies since 2011. For the first time, every board of Britain’s top 100 companies has at least one woman. Government will continue to work closely with investors, regulators, head hunters and businesses to implement his recommendation of 25% women on boards by 2015.